Taxes: Best and worst states

• Rank: #49
• Income tax: Very high
• Corporate tax: High
• Sales tax: Very high

In 49th place is New Jersey, thanks to high taxes in just about every category.

Corporate tax is paid in three different brackets, with the highest being 9% on profit above $100,000.

Small businesses face six brackets with a top rate of 8.97% for income above $500,000.

The sales tax is 7%, and New Jersey also has high property taxes. The rate, 5.34%, is second only to New Hampshire.

New Jersey moved away from last place on the Tax Foundation's index this year. But, as noted by the Tax Foundation study, it's not so much that New Jersey's score improved. Rather, its eastern neighbor's taxes got higher.

Scott Drenkard, a Tax Foundation economist, put it this way: "New Jersey and New York are sparring for the bottom spot."

NEXT: New York