Tax season is here and for Chicago, it’s big.
Chicagoans face the fifth highest taxes in America according to a list of U.S. cities with the highest tax burdens by the Wall Street Journal.
Ranked just under Louisville, Ky., and above Newark, N.J., Chicago’s increasingly high sales tax and tax burdens for lower-income earners put the city at top-paying status.
As of 2011, a family earning $25,000 had a state and local tax burden equal to 15.6 percent of their income, while a family earning $150,000 had just 9.9 percent, according to the study.
The list, based off a report recently released by the Office of Revenue Analysis of the Government of Washington, D.C., found that families in larger cities will lose 15 percent or more of their income in taxes, not including federal taxes.
The report reviewed property, sales, auto and income taxes a family paid in 2011 in the largest city in each state.
As tax hikes escalate, including the city's recently increased cigarette tax, Chicagoans will continue to shell out more money.
