Massachusetts

Income tax: 5.3% (flat tax rate)
State sales tax: 6.25%
Property tax per capita: $1,789
Inheritance tax: None
Estate tax: 0.8% to 16% with $1 million exemption

Residents of Massachusetts are saddled with the highest amount of state debt per capita in the U.S. -- $11,310 apiece for fiscal 2010, according to the Tax Foundation. (Next in line: Alaska, at $9,032 per capita.) With a $2 billion increase in tax revenue due to a strengthening economy -- $723 million over the projected take -- the tax rate was reduced from 5.3 percent to 5.25 percent for 2012, according to Bloomberg BNA.