This week in the War on Workers: State taxes fall heavily on the poorest people, lightly on the rich

According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy's new study on who pays how much in state and local taxes:

Combining all of the state and local income, property, sales and excise taxes state residents pay, the average overall effective tax rates by income group nationwide are 11.1 percent for the bottom 20 percent, 9.4 percent for the middle 20 percent and 5.6 percent for the top 1 percent.

In Washington, the most regressive state, the poorest 20 percent of the population pays 16.9 percent of its income in state and local taxes while the richest 1 percent pays just 2.8 percent. By contrast, in Vermont, the most progressive state, the poorest 20 percent pays 8.7 percent while the richest 1 percent pays 8 percent'still a lower percent, but a whole lot more fair.

There's more of the week's news below the fold.