Best 5 States to Avoid High Property Taxes

Property taxes negate private property. It’s not yours if you have to pay the government every year to keep it.

I’m sure the Socialists would claim you owe society for using a piece of land. But, ironically, having to pay taxes just to live on a chunk of land keeps people working for the man…

Without property taxes, Socialists could already set up their own mini-utopias… on private property.

Instead, property taxes force us all into the profit system.

The “proletariat” would actually have the option to reap the entire fruits of their labor if property taxes didn’t exist.

It spirals too… you don’t just have to earn $1,000 bucks to pay property taxes, you have to earn $1,500 so you’ll have enough left over after income taxes… Except that you have to earn even more to pay the tax on the car and gas to get you to work…

Since property taxes do exist, the best we can do is minimize the amount we have to pay, just for the privilege of occupying space on this Earth.

(Keep in mind the data here is from a Wallet Hub study which looked at the median home price and median taxes paid on that property in each state. Property taxes still vary by town.)

Hawaii actually has the lowest property tax rate at .68%. Unfortunately, making just $48,001 puts you in the highest state income tax bracket–8.25%. And then there’s a sale tax of 4%, plus another half percent in some localities.

Income taxes will likely take a larger chunk of cash than property taxes, so I only included states with no income taxes.

1. Wyoming

No Income Tax.

Sales tax: 4%

Property tax .61%

Wyoming has the tenth lowest cost of living among the US states. That makes the 4% sales tax rate a bit easier to stomach.

The median property tax paid was $1,256 which means half of all residents paid more than that, and half paid less. (Averages can be skewed by extremely high or extremely low home prices. So median is a better measure of a typical tax bill.)

Paying the median property tax, plus sales tax on $10,000 worth of purchases, you’d be looking at a tax bill of $1,656.

Unfortunately, Wyoming does tax vehicles at 1.8% per year. So add $180 bucks for a car valued at $10,000.

2. Tennessee

No Income Tax (except investment income)

Sales Tax: 7%

Property Tax: .74%

Tennessee recently got rid of its income tax and is phasing out the taxes on investment income as well.

It also has the highest sales tax on our list… but the lowest cost of living.

The median property tax $1,120,

So when you take into account the low cost of housing and living expenses, you could expect to pay a total tax burden of $1,820.

3. Nevada

No Income Tax.

Sales Tax: 6.85%

Property Tax: .69%

Nevada is in the top third of most expensive states for the cost of living. So let’s say you spend $12,000 a year on taxable items (instead of the $10,000 benchmark we used earlier).

With the median property tax of $1,489, that brings the total tax burden to $2,311.

Unfortunately, Nevada is another state with a 1.8% vehicle tax. So add another $180 for a $10,000 car.

4. Florida

No Income Tax.

Sales Tax: 6%

Property Tax: .98%

Florida is only a few spots behind Nevada in terms of cost of living, so let’s use the same benchmark.

You can get a decent deal on a home in certain areas, with the median property taxes paid $1,752.

That brings the comparative tax burden to $2,472.

5. Alaska

No Income Tax.

No Sales Tax.

Property Tax: 1.19%

Among states that have no sales or income tax, Alaska has the lowest property tax rate.

But unfortunately, it also has a higher median home price. The median property tax paid was $3,117.

With one of the highest costs of living, its good that there is no sales tax. But overall you will likely still pay more in property taxes, since homes are more expensive.