Hawaii’s 367,000 Percent Marginal Tax Rate—That’s not a misprint.
Believe it or not, Hawaii’s top marginal tax rate is 367,100 percent. That makes France’s 75 percent and 100 percent tax rates seem like a downright bargain. A new paper released by the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Texas Tech University and The Institute for Business and Finance Research details how state tax laws in Hawaii create a tax cliff of epic proportions where a single extra dollar in income can trigger marginal tax rates that are nothing short of income confiscation.
The paper titled, Marginal Tax Rates Around the Hawaii Itemized Deduction Cliff, details how a single dollar that takes a taxpayer from $199,999 to $200,000 can result in a loss of the entire deduction for the taxes he’s paid and trigger a $50,000 cap on any itemized deductions he can claim, regardless of how high his eligible list may be. Tax laws are often convoluted and even unfair, but this one takes the blue ribbon. In addition to detailing the law, the paper also advises several policy changes. You can read a summary article of the paper at Forbes.com.