New Jersey has the highest property tax collections per capita and ranks among the worst five states in the Tax Foundation’s broader Property Tax category, which also includes taxes on capital stock, tangible and intangible property, real estate transfers, estates, and inheritances.
New Jersey ranks No. 45 in the broader Property Tax category, behind Connecticut (No. 50), New York (No. 49), Vermont (No. 48), Maine (No. 47), and Massachusetts (No. 46), according to the independent nonprofit Tax Foundation’s 2023 Business Tax Climate report.
In the 2022 report, which also ranked states as No. 1 being the best and No. 50 being the worst, New Jersey fared only slightly better at No. 44 in the broader Property Tax category.
“Across the nation, property taxes impose one of the most substantial state and local tax burdens most businesses face,” the Tax Foundation said Tuesday in its Visualizing the Tax Data newsletter that dove deeper into the property tax rankings in all 50 states.
“States are in a better position to attract business investment when they maintain competitive real property tax rates and avoid harmful taxes on tangible personal property, intangible property, wealth, and asset transfers,” the Foundation said.
“This year, the states with the best scores on the property tax component are Indiana, New Mexico, Idaho, Delaware, and Nevada,” the Foundation said.
The Foundation also broke down the data by property tax collected per capita and by effective property tax rates.
Using Census population data, the Foundation said New Jersey had the highest property tax collections per capita ($3,513), followed by New Hampshire ($3,246), Connecticut ($3,215), New York ($3,180), and Vermont ($2,938).
The states with the highest effective property tax rates (tax collections as a percentage of personal income) were Maine (5.21%) Vermont (4.82 %), New Jersey (4.80%), New Hampshire (4.79%), New York (4.36%), and Connecticut (4.20%)
Property taxes were one of five categories of taxes the foundation examined in its 2023 Business Tax Climate report. The other four were: the individual income tax, sales tax, corporate income tax, and unemployment insurance taxes.
In the overall rankings, which factored in all five categories, New Jersey had the worst business tax climate in the U.S. New Jersey has ranked No. 50 in its overall tax climate score for six years in a row, the Tax Foundation said.
