Comparing Income Tax Liability Across States: Where Does Missouri Rank?

The answer to the question “Is Missouri a low-tax state?” depends on the approach used. This paper addresses the question by comparing income taxes. Specifically, for purposes of comparison we calculate, for each state, the income tax liability for a representative family of four earning the national median income. With this information we then compare the income tax liability across states, ranking them from highest to lowest. Using our approach, we find that Missouri ranks in the top half of states according to income tax liability. In other words, our ranking shows that Missouri is not a low-tax state