It's not what you earn, it's what you keep that often dictates your standard of living. With that in mind, take this quick tour of the ten cities in the nation that have the lowest overall tax burden. These cities came out on top (er, at the bottom, really) of the 2007-2008 District of Columbia survey of state and local tax burdens for the largest city in each state, plus D.C.

Tax rankings are based on 2007 tax return computations for a two-income couple earning $75,000 with one school age child. The real property tax is a function of housing values, real estate tax rates, assessment levels, homeowner exemptions and credits. The auto tax figure assumes the couple owns two cars and is based on the estimated registration fees, state and local gasoline taxes, and personal property taxes, if any.


No. 1 Anchorage, Alaska

Income tax: $0
Property tax: $2,572
Sales tax: $0
Auto tax: $165

STATE & LOCAL TAX BURDEN: 3.6%
(National median tax burden: 8.5%)

Urban Facts: Taxes? Residents of Anchorage actually receive an annual "dividend" payment derived from levies on state oil drilling operations.

In sheer geographic size, the city of Anchorage is larger than the state of Rhode Island. It is home to 42% of all Alaskan residents.


No. 2 Manchester, New Hampshire

Income tax: $0
Property tax: $2,349
Sales tax: $0
Auto tax: $493

STATE & LOCAL TAX BURDEN: 3.8%

Urban Facts: New Hampshire's favorable tax structure and Manchester's proximity to Boston makes it an attractive residence for flinty New Englanders.


No. 3 Cheyenne, Wyoming

Income tax: $0
Property tax: $1,326
Sales tax: $1,512
Auto tax: $665

STATE & LOCAL TAX BURDEN: 4.7%

Urban Facts: Levies on mining and oil account for nearly half of the Equality State's tax revenues. Cheyenne is in close proximity to the geographical center of North America.


No. 4 Seattle, Washington

Income tax: $0
Property tax: $1,698
Sales tax: $1,561
Auto tax: $457

STATE & LOCAL TAX BURDEN: 5.0%

Urban Facts: Seattle may be a tax-friendly city, but it also has a high cost of living, well above the national average.

The median home sales price was $375,000 for last quarter of 2008, compared to $200,000 at the national level.


No. 5 Las Vegas, Nevada

Income tax: $0
Property tax: $2,251
Sales tax: $1,072
Auto tax: $486

STATE & LOCAL TAX BURDEN: 5.1%

Urban Facts: Gaming taxes account for 27% of the state's general revenue funds.

The city's rapid growth a few years ago that drew more than 5,000 new residents every month was propped up on subprime lending. Now Las Vegas has the highest foreclosure rate among U.S. cities.


No. 6 Jacksonville, Florida

Income tax: $0
Property tax: $2,456
Sales tax: $1,284
Auto tax: $195

STATE & LOCAL TAX BURDEN: 5.2%

Urban Facts: The state intangibles tax on certain investments was repealed in 2007.

Jacksonville is the third-most populous city on the East Coast, after New York City and Philadelphia. (Other cities such as Boston, Washington, D.C., and Miami have larger metropolitan area populations.)


No. 7 Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Income tax: $0
Property tax: $2,760
Sales tax: $1,518
Auto tax: $294

STATE & LOCAL TAX BURDEN: 6.1%

Urban Facts: In fiscal year 2007, lottery gaming put $110 million in the state till to provide a 30% property-tax relief.

Sioux Falls has the largest shopping center between Minneapolis and Denver.


No. 8 Phoenix, Arizona

Income tax: $1,241
Property tax: $1,401
Sales tax: $1,849
Auto tax: $588

STATE & LOCAL TAX BURDEN: 6.8%

Urban Facts: Tax information for Phoenix includes the entire metropolitan area which extends to cities of Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale and Peoria. But housing prices and local tax can vary significantly from locality to locality.


No. 9 Billings, Montana

Income tax: $2,559
Property tax: $1,865
Sales tax: $0
Auto tax: $689

STATE & LOCAL TAX BURDEN: 6.8%

Urban Facts: Billings taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of less than $30,000 can exclude up to $3,600 of their pension income from state taxes.

Dubbed locally as the "Magic City," Billings is supporting growth by dunning its energy, agriculture, and transportation industries.


No. 10 Chicago, Illinois

Income tax: $2,019
Property tax: $1,023
Sales tax: $1,624
Auto tax: $478

STATE & LOCAL TAX BURDEN: 6.9%

Urban Facts: Chicago's effective real-estate tax rate of .70% and various exemption programs keep real property tax low. Just keep in mind that this surprisingly tax-friendly city doesn't offer the same breaks for other cost-of-living expenses.
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As far as I am concerned, any state with a property tax (including my own, PA) is unconstitutional, and at the very least immoral. A property tax says you can never own you home, and all land is the gov'ts. That is anti-freedom, anti-constitution, and anti-american. If the gov't owns all the property we live in tyranny. If you disagree, I'd love to hear your argument, as I believe anyone who believes in property taxes is a collectivist at the very least, an anti-american, socialist/communist at worst. Without economic freedom, we have no freedom.
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I think its a fact that any taxes are anti-freedom, yet necessary (not to the levels we have now though, IMHO).

Heck, at one point it was unconstitutional to have income taxes. I fully agree with this, as to tax something so necessary as income gives too much power to the government, again in my most-humble-more-philosophical-than-political opinion.
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As an outsider I have a few questions...

1 - Do you pay property tax to the state or the county?

Up here in the frozen north, our property taxes are based on an assessed value of the property, and are paid to the local municipal or regional gov. to pay for local serivces (sewer, roads, garbage collection,etc.)

2 - When you say sales tax, do you pay only Federal sales tax?

:-)
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I agree with you in principle. Yet, to me the property tax remains the most heinous of all taxes. When you scrimp and save and do what you can to acquire what was before fannie and freddie made it a joke, the "American dream", only to arrive at a point where the gov't tells you that unless you pay them a confiscatory and arbitrary amount that you don't own that home, they do, that IMHO is my definition of tyranny.
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Less taxes = more cigar $$$ :-)
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I hear ya. My property taxes are on par with my mortgage payments...and I live in a VERY modest home in a modest area.

Taxation is very tricky and can very easily be used to target a group...and destroy a country. I think many of us are seeing this right now.
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AMEN, I taught my sunday school class this morning and the subject was leadership. One of the class members said that he thought that there was an attitude of love now. I asked him what he was talking about, he said, "you know with the new president". I replied, I have to tell you, I'm just not feelin' the love. I got some laughs, but not as many as I should have in a free society. Religion aside, I am a free market capitalist, I feel that is the most fair, moral system that has ever existed, and right now, right here, it under assault like never before. When we disempower the indivdual in favor of some kind of utopian scheme it can only lead to oppression. I hope I am wrong, but the current track we are now on seems to be headed to less individual rights in favor of some kind of scheme where everybody is equally miserable.
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Damned right!!!
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Power corrupts.

The fackin idiots in DC have been escalating the ante each and every time the stupid f&^%$#@ get elected.

I'll be damned if its my frickin job to pay for every stupid government program idiots dream up. Screw the spotted owl. To hell with pig **** smell - damned pork barrel BS. Why in the f&^% am I paying for that stupid ugly 81tch who had 8 kids with no f&^%$#@ job.

*&^%ing *&^%ing *&^% ... food stamps are coming out of my g*&^%$#@! pocket and I'd appreciate if you f&^%$#@ getting food stamps act like you f*&^%$# understand the mugging, OK?

We need to have a party focused on NOT PISSING AWAY OUR FRICKIN TAX MONEY.

Taxes are pushing our country into a dumpster.
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:-)
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Time for us libertarian, constitutionally minded people to rise up and force the governing a$$holes back to following the constitution.
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I think you're spot on here. It's hard to deny that the federal government (and state and local) provides a service to all citizens. I think it's fair to pay for that service. Though while I agree with the principle, I think the current practice is mostly BS and needs a serious overhaul.

The opposite side of that coin is when the wrong individual gets empowered. How many millions of dollars, or maybe even billions have been lost because of poor, greedy, selfish decisions by those at the top of the food chain? When a few men can ruin the lives of hundreds or thousands with corrupt trading schemes, I think there ought to be checks and balances in place. Again, this is a simple idea but a hard practice.

I think that's the Libertarian Party. I've been meaning to research their thoughts/goals more in-depth, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Y'all might like this one:
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1. Property tax is paid to the county.

2. Depending on what you buy and where you live, there can be local, state and federal sales taxes.
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This thread is 1 click away from the dumpster.
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They've got some very good ideas. I wouldn't consider myself a full scale Libertarian as I have some disagreements with their foreign policies, but I like the overall message they send, best paraphrased by Clint Eastwood:

"Everyone leaves everyone else alone".


I think things would be a hell of a lot better if more people had an attitude of independence and self-sufficiency rather than that of self-righteousness. :-)
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Back to the O.P. I am seriously considering Wyoming for my John Galt strike. I keep seeing it turn up in statistics like the above.
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