US States With the Highest Share of Taxes From Motor Vehicle Licences

51 US states ranked by share of taxes from motor vehicle licences, from highest to lowest. First are Oklahoma (4.12), Iowa (3.79) and Hawaii (3.67). The middle one of the 51 has 1.32.

What this measures

The percentage from vehicle licence taxes: registration and license plates. Most states charge a flat fee per vehicle. So it makes up a larger share of tax money where incomes are low and people have to drive. Source: Census government finances.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

Every state

Rank	State	% of all taxes
1	Oklahoma	4.12
2	Iowa	3.79
3	Hawaii	3.67
4	Montana	3.16
5	South Dakota	3.04
6	Wyoming	2.98
7	Michigan	2.78
8	Idaho	2.45
9	California	2.35
10	Wisconsin	2.12
11	Oregon	2.1
12	Minnesota	2.04
13	Illinois	2.04
14	North Carolina	1.98
15	Indiana	1.9
16	Washington	1.85
17	Nebraska	1.73
18	North Dakota	1.55
19	Texas	1.54
20	Kansas	1.52
21	Mississippi	1.5
22	Pennsylvania	1.46
23	Tennessee	1.43
24	Vermont	1.39
25	New Hampshire	1.38
26	Florida	1.32
27	New Mexico	1.29
28	Utah	1.28
29	Maine	1.25
30	South Carolina	1.17
31	Arkansas	1.16
32	Alaska	1.16
33	Colorado	1.16
34	Virginia	1.15
35	Nevada	1.11
36	Missouri	1.07
37	Alabama	1.06
38	Kentucky	1.06
39	Maryland	1.03
40	Arizona	0.883
41	Ohio	0.877
42	Delaware	0.808
43	District of Columbia	0.795
44	New Jersey	0.787
45	Massachusetts	0.714
46	Georgia	0.685
47	Connecticut	0.646
48	New York	0.628
49	Rhode Island	0.46
50	Louisiana	0.314
51	West Virginia	0.0527

More on share of taxes from motor vehicle licences

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.