T – 25% of households under water – crossing socio-economic barriers – Taxed much?

The Hartford Courant’sarticle on the 25% of Connecticut households living under water, with some making 61,000 per year (approximate), and others being students not yet able to afford to move from a parents home, is somewhat telling of the state of Connecticut .

This also applies to the other 50 states and where those same families may fare better than say, in Connecticut. The Tax Foundation offers a table of state by state tax burdens here, there 2011. At that time, Connecticut had an 11.9% state tax rate compared to say, Texas at 7.5%. This data includes all state and local taxes. It also does not take into account the following that may be lending to the overall downsizing of the American worker’s dollars: The federal tax burden and fees, including EPA fees paid by business and homeowners with every water bill, fees on cable services, the gas tax, etc. etc..

Therefore, as the inflation on items such as food and fuel (which are not counted in the Bureau of Labor (Federal) as they are too volatile to include, rises, and the dollar buys less, an inordinate tax burden on the citizens by both the state and federal bureaucracy makes both complicit in the fortunes, or lack thereof, of the individuals in each state.

One might suggest that those living in Massachusetts, New Jersey, states on the west coast and in between that subscribe to the federal and state governments as benevolent societies (on the back of the taxpayer) are in no better shape.