PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Bank have published Paying Taxes 2009, a study examining the tax regimes in 181 countries. The study uses three main indicators: the total tax rate (all taxes borne a business must pay), the time it takes to comply with the major taxes, and the number of tax payments for the major taxes. Interestingly, the Maldives have the highest ranking for all three indicators. By contrast, the United States, ranks 26th on the number of tax payments ranking, 65th in time to comply ranking, and 92nd on the total tax rate ranking.

The Tax Foundation’s 2008 State Business Tax Climate Index (PDF) lists the ten best states as: 1. Wyoming; 2. South Dakota; 3. Nevada; 4. Alaska; 5. Florida; 6. Montana; 7. New Hampshire; 8. Texas; 9. Delaware; 10. Oregon. These states made the top due to an “absence of a major tax… . Wyoming, Nevada and South Dakota have no corporate or individual income tax; Alaska has no individual income or state-level sales tax; Florida and Texas have no individual income tax; and New Hampshire, Delaware, Oregon and Montana have no sales tax.” (5)

The ten worst states are: 41. Maine; 42. Minnesota; 43. Nebraska; 44. Vermont; 45. Iowa; 46. Ohio; 47. California; 48. New York; 49. New Jersey; 50. Rhode Island. According to the study’s authors, “Rhode Island has the worst unemployment tax system and the third worst property tax and individual income tax systems. New Jersey has the second to worst individual income and property tax systems and the seventh worst sales tax system. New York’s individual income, sales, unemployment and property tax systems all rank in the bottom ten, and its sales tax system is second worst. California has the worst individual income tax system, the ninth worst sales tax system and a poorly ranked corporate tax system. The remaining states in the bottom ten suffer from the same afflictions that plague these four bottom states: complex, non-neutral taxes with comparatively high rates.” (5)