it also takes in far more in federal dollars per capita than places like CT (which is dead last), MA, NY, and NJ. Pretty easy to have low/no taxes in some states when a big chunk of your budget is paid for by federal dollars. While good and efficient governance is important, it is also important to consider the full accounting as every state has to pay for stuff. In CT, on a per capita basis, we pay $4k more per year in federal taxes than we get back. The average person in CT pays about $3-4k per year in state income taxes, so imagine if we were able to keep some of our tax dollars home instead of sending them off to DC to be redistributed to places like Wyoming?