It's tax day. Here's how much US residents pay in taxes in a lifetime — how does Ohio rank?
It's tax day in the United States, and a recent study has calculated how much the average American will spend in taxes in their lifetime. Here's how Ohio stacks up.
How much will Americans pay in taxes over their lifetime?
A recent study by Self.inc, a website that helps people build credit and savings, shows the average American will pay $524,625 in taxes throughout their lifetime, about one-third (34.7%) of their estimated lifetime earnings of $1,494,986.
New Jersey residents pay the most, at $987,117, while Wyoming residents pay the least, $358,407.
The total tax is a combination of income tax and property tax, as well as taxes on personal spending and vehicles.
Breaking it down by category, Americans will pay $270,414 on just their wages alone. Property taxes add another $165,492, while vehicle tax is $38,889. Vehicle tax was calculated using the most popular car, a Toyota RAV4, across the average of owning four cars in a lifetime.
For everyday expenses, such as food, clothing, personal care and entertainment, Washington residents pay the most at $83,014, followed by people in California, $78,191.
How does Ohio compare to the national average?
Total tax across a lifetime in Ohio came out to $453,333, according to the site, about 31.8% of their lifetime earnings of $1,425,470. That's No. 30 in the nation, ahead of North Carolina at $450,466 but behind Missouri at $463,997.
By category, Ohioans pay $223,416 in taxes on their earnings (No. 38 in the nation); $53,657 in taxes on personal spending (No. 20); $147,012 in property taxes (No. 22); and $29,248 in vehicle taxes (No. 36).
How was this study conducted?
For this study, Self.inc took individual median earning information from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (2022) per state and applied inflation to bring numbers up to 2024 based on salary growth estimates of 5% in 2023 and 5.1% in January 2024.
The tax paid on earnings is for a single filer based on state-level taxes, federal income taxes and FICA payments when applied to the average salaries in each state. A working lifetime of 45 years was used to analyze income taxes.
Property tax was calculated by using the cost of a single-family home in each state taken on Dec. 31, 2023, from Zillow.
Vehicle tax was taken from a WalletHub study analyzing this average cost in each state based on respective Department of Motor Vehicles data.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: See where Ohio ranks nationally for the amount of lifetime taxes paid
