Illinois Residents Would Rather Swim With Sharks Than Pay Taxes

Happy tax season, hope you're having fun.

If you thought that Illinois was already a particularly expensive place to live, you're not statistically wrong.

It's tax season, we all hate this, and according to recent stats from WalletHub, this year 78% of Americans are more worried about affordability than taxes.

The study shows we'd rather do any of the following instead of doing our taxes: jury duty, attend driver's ed classes, go on a hunger strike, miss a connecting flight, talk to your kids about sex, swim with sharks, get naked on a livestream, spend the night in jail, or drink expired milk.

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WalletHub looked at the states with the highest & lowest tax rates. And for the Midwest, especially Illinois, it's not looking that good.

The categories looked like this:

Effective Total State & Local Tax Rates on Median U.S. Household
Annual State & Local Taxes on Median U.S. Household
% Difference Between State & U.S. Avg
Annual State & Local Taxes on Median State Household
Adjusted Overall Rank (based on Cost of Living Index)

The ranking was like this: 1= lowest tax rate, 51= highest tax rate.

And who's the lucky #51, the highest tax rate in the entire U S of A? Illinois has the highest tax rate in the country. So yes, it really is as bad as you think.

States with the Highest & Lowest Tax Rates Source: WalletHub

Notice that yes, though Illinois is cooked, the Midwest isn't doing too great overall. Iowa's in at #44 (the 8th highest tax rate in the country), while Kansas is at #46, Nebraska is at #45, Ohio is coming in at #43.

The study shows our biggest fears when it comes to taxes are not having enough money (duh) and also doing math wrong (definitely).