State income tax project
This project will give you some exposure to the differences in income taxes on the state level in the United States as you compare the income tax rates among three states.
The starting point is the Minnesota state tax return, the form M1. https://www.revenue.state.mn.us/Forms_and_Instructions/m1_15.pdf
Read through the return and determine the source of income from the federal 1040 return. What adjustments are made to calculate taxable income in Minnesota? What is the income tax rate? Does the return use a formula for the tax amount or tax tables? Is the tax rate a flat tax or progressive?
Using this site, https://www.taxadmin.org/state-tax-forms find two additional states to review their tax returns using the same questions you answered for Minnesota. Do not use the following states as they do not have an income tax or tax only a small part of income: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Tennessee and New Hampshire tax dividends and interest.
Use this site, https://www.salestaxinstitute.com/resources/rates , to identify the sales tax rates for the three states for which you found income tax data. Use the state's website that you used for the tax return to find information about the state sales rate to determine if there are exceptions for the sales tax. An example would be the policy in Minnesota of no tax on clothing.
As you review the tax burden consisting of income tax and sales tax, make a judgment about who in the state bears the tax burden. Is it shared equally by all citizens, more by the rich or more by the poor?
In your paper, include the website addresses for the forms.