Tomorrow is tax deadline day, which
is why the most recent edition of Who Pays? A Distributional
Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States makes such depressing reading.
 The left-of-center Institute on
Taxation and Economic Policy, the Washington-based research organization that
focuses on tax fairness, found that Illinois is among the Top Ten (or rather
bottom ten) states that have the most regressive tax structures.
 Here are the numbers: The poorest 20
percent of our citizens pay an average of 13.2% of their incomes in state
taxes. The middle 60 percent carry a lighter burden, paying 10.9 percent.
 The richest 1 percent among us? They pay 4.6% of
their incomes in state taxes — a little more than a third of what the poorest
pay.
Them that has, keeps.
This article appears in Apr 9-15, 2015.
