US Taxpayer ROI Depends On State; Arkansas Worst-In-Class

With tax day just behind us, most Americans feel like they’ve just thrown some of their hard earned income out the window. But whether that feeling is justified depends as much on where you live as it does the amount you had to fork over last week.

"Taxpayer ROI (return on investment) varies significantly based on simple geography," writes John S. Kiernan for WalletHub. “This, of course, begs the question of whether people in high-tax states benefit from correspondingly superior government services or if low-tax states are more efficient."

Taxpayer ROI: Ranking government services

To answer the question, Kiernan measured return using 27 metrics divided into six categories: infrastructure, education, health, safety, pollution, and the economy. While there is some wiggle...