66% of Americans feel overtaxed. New Hampshire proves they don't have to be

Not all tax dollars work equally hard. WalletHub ranked all 50 U.S. states to find out who gets the best deal

John Elk III / Getty Images

Every April, millions of Americans write checks to governments at the federal, state, and local levels — and then largely wonder what they get for it. Around 66% of Americans think their tax rate is too high, according to WalletHub's taxpayer survey. Many of them don't see a meaningful enough improvement in the services they fund with their hard-earned money.

WalletHub measures the quality of government services a state delivers and weighs them against what residents actually pay in state and local taxes to determine the taxpayer return on investment (ROI) in each place. A state with low taxes and strong services scores well. A state where taxes are high and services disappoint scores poorly. The difference between those two outcomes, across all 50 states, turns out to be enormous.

WalletHub's analysis grades states across categories such as education, health care, and infrastructure to determine which of them return the most value to local taxpayers. The states that deliver keep taxes low, while high-tax jurisdictions struggle to justify the cost of social services. The worst performers fail on both counts, burdening residents with above-average taxes that deliver below-average results.

Here are seven factors that determine whether — and where — tax dollars actually go to work.

1. Income tax-free states hold a structural edge

Tiffany Tompkins / Bradenton Herald / Tribune News Service via Getty Images

New Hampshire, Florida, and South Dakota top WalletHub's ranking largely because none of them charge a state income tax. Instead, they rely on property taxes, sales taxes, and excise taxes, keeping total per-capita tax collection lower than most states.

WalletHub's analyst Chip Lupo notes that several top ROI states "don't charge any income tax, and residents pay less at tax time while receiving good-quality — though not necessarily the best — government services." The result is a structural advantage:........

© Quartz