Illinois has one of most unfair tax systems, study shows

The next time you complain about taxes in Illinois, take some comfort in knowing your complaining is justified — at least according to a new report on the fairness of tax systems across the U.S.

The study from Wallethub focused on federal tax policy and analyzed and ranked each state based on the fairness of its state and local tax system, which included income taxes, property taxes and sales and excise taxes.

Where does Illinois fall? No. 47. Arkansas, Hawaii and Washington are the only states with more unfair tax structures.

This comes after a study in May from the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy that placed Illinois’ flat income tax in the “Terrible Ten” across the country.

From Wallethub:

“To rank the states, Wallethub conducted a nationally representative online survey of 1,050 individuals to assess what Americans think a fair state and local tax system looks like. Our analysts then compared what Americans think is fair to data on the real structure of tax systems in all 50 states.”

Here’s the state-by-state breakdown, with the darker red colors representing more unfair tax structures, and darker green represents more fair systems.

In Illinois, both the poor and middle class are overtaxed, according to Wallethub.

So what is a “fair” tax system?

According to the Wallethub survey, Americans favor a progressive tax structure where higher income households pay a larger percentage than lower income households.

Here’s the breakdown: