State income tax

In addition to federal income tax collected by the United States, most individual U.S. states collect a state income tax. Some local governments also impose an income tax, often based on state income tax calculations. Forty-one states, the District of Columbia, and many localities in the United States impose an income tax on individuals. Nine states impose no state income tax. Forty-seven states and many localities impose a tax on the income of corporations.
State income tax is imposed at a fixed or graduated rate on taxable income of individuals, corporations, and certain estates and trusts. These tax rates vary by state and by entity type. Taxable income conforms closely to federal taxable income in most states with limited modifications. States are prohibited from taxing income from federal bonds or other federal obligations. Most states do not tax Social Security benefits or interest income from obligations of that state. In computing the deduction for depreciation, several states require different useful lives and methods be used by businesses. Many states allow a standard deduction or some form of itemized deductions. States allow a variety of tax credits in computing tax.
Each state administers its own tax system. Many states also administer the tax return and collection process for localities within the state that impose income tax.
State income tax is allowed as an itemized deduction in computing federal income tax, subject to limitations for individuals.
State tax rules vary widely. The tax rate may be fixed for all income levels and taxpayers of a certain type, or it may be graduated. Tax rates may differ for individuals and corporations.
Most states conform to federal rules for determining:
Gross income generally includes all income earned or received from whatever source with some exceptions. States are prohibited from taxing income from federal bonds or other federal obligations. Most states also exempt income from bonds issued by that state or localities within the state as well as some portion or all of Social Security benefits. Many states provide tax exemption for certain other types of income, which varies widely by state. States uniformly allow reduction of gross income for cost of goods sold, though the computation of this amount may be subject to some modifications.
Most states provide for modification of both business and non-business deductions. All states taxing business income allow deduction for most business expenses. Many require that depreciation deductions be computed in manners different from at least some of those permitted for federal income tax purposes. For example, many states do not allow the additional first year bonus depreciation deduction.
Most states tax capital gain and dividend income in the same manner as other investment income. In this respect, individuals and corporations not resident in the state generally are not required to pay any income tax to that state with respect to such income.
Some states have alternative measures of tax. These include analogs to the federal Alternative Minimum Tax in 14 states, as well as measures for corporations not based on income, such as capital stock taxes imposed by many states.
Income tax is self assessed, and individual and corporate taxpayers in all states imposing an income tax must file tax returns in each year their income exceeds certain amounts determined by each state. Returns are also required by partnerships doing business in the state. Many states require that a copy of the federal income tax return be attached to their state income tax returns. The deadline for filing returns varies by state and type of return, but for individuals in many states is the same as the federal deadline, typically April 15.
Every state, including those with no income tax, has a state taxing authority with power to examine (audit) and adjust returns filed with it. Most tax authorities have appeals procedures for audits, and all states permit taxpayers to go to court in disputes with the tax authorities. Procedures and deadlines vary widely by state. All states have a statute of limitations prohibiting the state from adjusting taxes beyond a certain period following filing returns.
All states have tax collection mechanisms. States with an income tax require employers to withhold state income tax on wages earned within the state. Some states have other withholding mechanisms, particularly with respect to partnerships. Most states require taxpayers to make quarterly estimated tax payments not expected to be satisfied by withholding tax.
All states impose penalties for failing to file required tax returns and/or pay tax when due. In addition, all states impose interest charges on late payments of tax, and generally also on additional taxes due upon adjustment by the taxing authority.
Forty-three states impose a tax on the income of individuals, sometimes referred to as personal income tax. State income tax rates vary widely from state to state. States imposing an income tax on individuals tax all taxable income (as defined in the state) of residents. Such residents are allowed a credit for taxes paid to other states. Most states tax income of nonresidents earned within the state. Such income includes wages for services within the state as well as income from a business with operations in the state. Where income is from multiple sources, formulary apportionment may be required for nonresidents. Generally, wages are apportioned based on the ratio days worked in the state to total days worked.
All states that impose an individual income tax allow most business deductions. However, many states impose different limits on certain deductions, especially depreciation of business assets. Most states allow non-business deductions in a manner similar to federal rules. Few allow a deduction for state income taxes, though some states allow a deduction for local income taxes. Six of the states allow a full or partial deduction for federal income tax.
In addition, some states allow cities and/or counties to impose income taxes. For example, most Ohio cities and towns impose an income tax on individuals and corporations. By contrast, in New York, only New York City and Yonkers impose a municipal income tax.
Nine U.S. states do not levy a broad-based individual income tax. Some of these do tax certain forms of personal income:
Seven states have a flat rate individual income tax:
The following states have local income taxes. These are generally imposed at a flat rate and tend to apply to a limited set of income items.
Alabama:
California:
Colorado:
Delaware:
Indiana (all local taxes reported on state income tax form):
Iowa (all local taxes reported on state income tax form):
Kansas:
Kentucky:
Maryland (all local taxes reported on state income tax form):
Michigan:
Missouri (all other cities are prohibited from imposing local income tax):
New Jersey:
New York (all local taxes reported on state income tax form):
Ohio:
Oregon:
Pennsylvania:
West Virginia:
Most states impose a tax on income of corporations having sufficient connection ("nexus") with the state. Such taxes apply to U.S. and foreign corporations, and are not subject to tax treaties. Such tax is generally based on business income of the corporation apportioned to the state plus nonbusiness income only of resident corporations. Most state corporate income taxes are imposed at a flat rate and have a minimum amount of tax. Business taxable income in most states is defined, at least in part, by reference to federal taxable income.
According to taxfoundation.org, these states have no state corporate income tax as of Feb 1, 2020: Nevada, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. However, Nevada, Ohio, and Washington impose a gross receipts tax while Texas has a franchise tax based on "taxable margin", generally defined as sales less either cost of goods sold less compensation, with complete exemption (no tax owed) for less than $1MM in annual earnings and gradually increasing to a maximum tax of 1% based on net revenue, where net revenue can be calculated in the most advantageous of four different ways.
States are not permitted to tax income of a corporation unless four tests are met under Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady:
Substantial nexus (referred to generally as simply "nexus") is a general U.S. Constitutional requirement that is subject to interpretation, generally by the state's comptroller or tax office, and often in administrative "letter rulings".
In Quill Corp. v. North Dakota the Supreme Court of the United States confirmed the holding of National Bellas Hess v. Illinois that a corporation or other tax entity must maintain a physical presence in the state (such as physical property, employees, officers) for the state to be able to require it to collect sales or use tax. The Supreme Court's physical presence requirement in Quill is likely limited to sales and use tax nexus, but the Court specifically stated that it was silent with respect to all other types of taxes ("Although we have not, in our review of other types of taxes, articulated the same physical-presence requirement that Bellas Hess established for sales and use taxes, that silence does not imply repudiation of the Bellas Hess rule."). Whether Quill applies to corporate income and similar taxes is a point of contention between states and taxpayers. The "substantial nexus" requirement of Complete Auto, supra, has been applied to corporate income tax by numerous state supreme courts.
The courts have held that the requirement for fair apportionment may be met by apportioning between jurisdictions all business income of a corporation based on a formula using the particular corporation's details. Many states use a three factor formula, averaging the ratios of property, payroll, and sales within the state to that overall. Some states weight the formula. Some states use a single factor formula based on sales.
Most states tax capital gains as ordinary income. Most states that do not tax income do not tax capital gains either, but Washington State does tax income from dividends and interest.
The first state income tax, as the term is understood today in the United States, was passed by the State of Wisconsin in 1911 and came into effect in 1912. However, the idea of taxing income has a long history.
Some of the English colonies in North America taxed property (mostly farmland at that time) according to its assessed produce, rather than, as now, according to assessed resale value. Some of these colonies also taxed "faculties" of making income in ways other than farming, assessed by the same people who assessed property. These taxes taken together can be considered a sort of income tax. The records of no colony covered by Rabushka (the colonies that became part of the United States) separated the property and faculty components, and most records indicate amounts levied rather than collected, so much is unknown about the effectiveness of these taxes, up to and including whether the faculty part was actually collected at all.
Rabushka makes it clear that Massachusetts and Connecticut actually levied these taxes regularly, while for the other colonies such levies happened much less often; South Carolina levied no direct taxes from 1704 through 1713, for example. Becker, however, sees faculty taxes as routine parts of several colonies' finances, including Pennsylvania.
During and after the American Revolution, although property taxes were evolving toward the modern resale-value model, several states continued to collect faculty taxes.
Between the enactment of the Constitution and 1840, no new general taxes on income appeared. In 1796, Delaware abolished its faculty tax, and in 1819 Connecticut followed suit. On the other hand, in 1835, Pennsylvania instituted a tax on bank dividends, paid by withholding, which by about 1900 produced half its total revenue.
Several states, mostly in the South, instituted taxes related to income in the 1840s; some of these claimed to tax total income, while others explicitly taxed only specific categories, these latter sometimes called classified income taxes. These taxes may have been spurred by the ideals of Jacksonian democracy, or by fiscal difficulties resulting from the Panic of 1837. None of these taxes produced much revenue, partly because they were collected by local elected officials.
The 1850s brought another few income tax abolitions: Maryland and Vermont in 1850, and Florida in 1855.
During the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era, when both the United States of America (1861-1871) and the Confederate States of America (1863-1865) instituted income taxes, so did several states.
As with the national taxes, these were made in various ways to produce substantial revenue, for the first time in the history of American income taxation. On the other hand, as soon as the war ended, a wave of abolitions began: Missouri in 1865, Georgia in 1866, South Carolina in 1868, Pennsylvania and Texas in 1871, and Kentucky in 1872.
The rest of the century balanced new taxes with abolitions: Delaware levied a tax on several classes of income in 1869, then abolished it in 1871; Tennessee instituted a tax on dividends and bond interest in 1883, but Kinsman reports that by 1903 it had produced zero actual revenue; Alabama abolished its income tax in 1884; South Carolina instituted a new one in 1897 (eventually abolished in 1918); and Louisiana abolished its income tax in 1899.
Following the 1895 Supreme Court decision in Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. which effectively ended a federal income tax, some more states instituted their own along the lines established in the 19th century:
However, other states, some perhaps spurred by Populism, some certainly by Progressivism, instituted taxes incorporating various measures long used in Europe, but considerably less common in America, such as withholding, corporate income taxation (as against earlier taxes on corporate capital), and especially the defining feature of a "modern" income tax, central administration by bureaucrats rather than local elected officials. The twin revenue-raising successes of Wisconsin's 1911 (the Wisconsin Income Tax, the first "modern" State Income Tax was passed in 1911 and came into effect in 1912) and the United States' 1914 income taxes prompted imitation. Note that writers on the subject sometimes distinguish between corporate "net income" taxes, which are straightforward corporate income taxes, and corporate "franchise" taxes, which are taxes levied on corporations for doing business in a state, sometimes based on net income. Many states' constitutions were interpreted as barring direct income taxation, and franchise taxes were seen as legal ways to evade these bars. The term "franchise tax" has nothing to do with the voting franchise, and franchise taxes only apply to individuals insofar as they do business. Note that some states actually levy both corporate net income taxes and corporate franchise taxes based on net income. For the following list, see and.
This period coincided with the United States' acquisition of colonies, or dependencies: the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam from Spain in the Spanish–American War, 1898–99; American Samoa by agreements with local leaders, 1899-1904; the Panama Canal Zone by agreement from Panama in 1904; and the U.S. Virgin Islands purchased from Denmark in 1917. (Arguably, Alaska, purchased from Russia in 1867, and Hawaii, annexed in 1900, were also dependencies, but both were by 1903 "incorporated" in the U.S., which these others never have been.) The Panama Canal Zone was essentially a company town, but the others all began levying income taxes under American rule. (Puerto Rico already had an income tax much like a faculty tax, which remained in effect for a short time after 1898.)
A third of the current state individual income taxes, and still more of the current state corporate income taxes, were instituted during the decade after the Great Depression started:
A "mirror" tax is a tax in a U.S. dependency in which the dependency adopts wholesale the U.S. federal income tax code, revising it by substituting the dependency's name for "United States" everywhere, and vice versa. The effect is that residents pay the equivalent of the federal income tax to the dependency, rather than to the U.S. government. Although mirroring formally came to an end with the Tax Reform Act of 1986, it remains the law as seen by the U.S. for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands because conditions to its termination have not yet been met. In any event, the other mirror tax dependencies (the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa) are free to continue mirroring if, and as much as, they wish.
The U.S. acquired one more dependency from Japan in World War II: the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
Two states, South Dakota and West Virginia, abolished Depression-era income taxes in 1942 and 1943, but these were nearly the last abolitions. For about twenty years after World War II, new state income taxes appeared at a somewhat slower pace, and most were corporate net income or corporate franchise taxes:
As early as 1957 General Motors protested a proposed corporate income tax in Michigan with threats of moving manufacturing out of the state. However, Michigan led off the most recent group of new income taxes:
In the early 1970s, Pennsylvania and Ohio competed for businesses with Ohio wooing industries with a reduced corporate income tax but Pennsylvania warning that Ohio had higher municipal taxes that included taxes on inventories, machinery and equipment.
A few more events of the 1970s follows:
(Also during this time the U.S. began returning the Panama Canal Zone to Panama in 1979, and self-government, eventually to lead to independence, began between 1979 and 1981 in all parts of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands except for the Northern Mariana Islands. The resulting countries - the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau - all levy income taxes today.)
The only subsequent individual income tax instituted to date is Connecticut's, from 1991, replacing the earlier intangibles tax. The median family income in many of the state's suburbs was nearly twice that of families living in urban areas. Governor Lowell Weicker's administration imposed a personal income tax to address the inequities of the sales tax system, and implemented a program to modify state funding formulas so that urban communities received a larger share.
Numerous states with income taxes have considered measures to abolish those taxes since the Late-2000s recession began, and several states without income taxes have considered measures to institute them, but only one such proposal has been enacted: Michigan replaced its more recent value-added tax with a new corporate income tax in 2009.
State governments have not imposed income taxes since World War II.
Between 1915 and 1942, income taxes were levied by both state governments and the federal government. In 1942, to help fund World War II, the federal government took over the raising of all income tax, to the exclusion of the states. The loss of the states' ability to raise revenue by income taxation was offset by federal government grants to the states and, later, the devolution of the power to levy payroll taxes to the states in 1971.