(THE CENTER SQUARE) – Two weeks after a report called Ohio’s tax rate one of the worst in the nation, the same website released a new report that said the state’s taxpayers receive some of the best returns in the country on that tax money.
The previous report from WalletHub, a personal finance website, took into account the effective state and local tax rates, ranking the state 43rd in overall effective state and local taxes and 49th in income tax. Ohio’s real estate tax was 39th in the country, and its sales and excise taxes ranked 32nd.
A new report that examined taxpayer return on investment across the 50 states and the District of Columbia, however, ranked Ohio 10th overall and the best in the Midwest.
"The previous report where Ohio ranked among the states with the highest tax rates included the effective total state and local tax rates,” WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said. “For the report where Ohio has the 10th best taxpayer (return on investment), the amount of money that the state's residents pay in taxes is the 13th lowest. In exchange for this, the quality of government services they receive is just below average.”
The state ranked 13th in total taxes per capita, 16th in safety and 19th in infrastructure and pollution.
“Ohio gets points for having school programs such as education savings accounts, school vouchers or tax-credit scholarships, a low average health insurance premium and a large share of the population receiving fluoridated water,” Gonzalez said. “On the other hand, the average life expectancy is one of the lowest and the infant mortality rate is among the highest, which speak to the quality of the state's health-care system. Ohio also ranked low in terms of parks and recreation expenses and air pollution."
New Hampshire ranked as the state with the best taxpayer return on investment, followed by Florida, South Dakota, Georgia and Virginia. Hawaii had the worst taxpayer return, followed by New Mexico, North Dakota, California and New York.
