Americans Think These States Have The Most Unfair Tax Systems

According to a new WalletHub survey, Washington State has the least fair tax system in the country.

After Washington, Americans think the following states have the most unfair tax systems:

• Hawaii
• Arkansas
• Illinois
• Florida
• Indiana
• Mississippi
• Arizona
• Texas
• Tennessee
• Georgia

The survey also found that over 80% of Americans consider the US tax code "complex" or "extremely complex."

Out of over 1,000 survey respondents, 44% thought the "fairest possible tax code" would have fewer deductions than the current one, and about 65% of respondents think corporations should be taxed at higher rates than consumers.

WalletHub used data from the survey to compile a ranking of the 50 states from most to least fair. The site defined "fair" by comparing the average amount of taxes that respondents thought should be paid by individuals at different income levels with data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. They explain their methodology in detail on the website.

Washington, for instance, is one of the only states that doesn't collect personal income taxes, which sounds fantastic, until you realize that they don't collect corporate income taxes, either. This clashes with WalletHub survey respondents' belief that corporations should pay more in taxes, likely weighting the state's calculation toward the more unfair end of the spectrum.

Washington also earns a place on WalletHub's list of 10 states where the bottom 20% of earners are most overtaxed, and where the top 1% are most undertaxed.

If you want to know more about how other states' taxes work, Bankrate has a cool tool.

Mouse over the graphic below to see each state's ranking in the complete list. The lower the number, the fairer the state's taxes.