Taxes are No. 1 Cause of Financial Stress in North Dakota
It seems as though we never have enough money and the thought of that stresses us out.
For the second straight year, the website GoBankingrates looked at the No. 1 cause of financial stress in each state.
GoBankingRates conducted the same survey last year, and in 2016 the No. 1 cause of financial stress in North Dakota was paying off debt.
The data was gathered simply by surveying people in each state and asking the question, "Of the following, what is your No. 1 cause of financial stress?”
Interestingly though, even though the question was the same in 2016 and 2017, the choice of answers were slightly different. In 2016 the choices were:
- Paying off my debt (i.e. credit cards)
- Not being able to retire
- Not having enough money to fund an emergency
- Wanting a nicer lifestyle
- Paying for education
- Lack of stable income
- Paying my mortgage or rent
However in 2017, the choices were:
- Education (ex. college costs)
- Family (ex. child care costs, divorce)
- Housing
- Healthcare
- Taxes
- Everyday costs (ex. groceries, utilities)
- Debt
Housing, debt and education remained constant on both lists. However, taxes, everyday costs, family, and healthcare were added in 2017 in lieu of lifestyle, income, funding an emergency, and retirement.
So in 2016, North Dakotans felt paying off debt was the most stressful. Even though that option was still on the 2017 list, more North Dakotans felt that paying taxes was more financially stressful.
Interestingly though, GoBankingRates in another study found that North Dakota is one of the cheapest states to file taxes due to the low income tax rate.
The study about North Dakotans finding taxes to be the most financially stressful, comes on the same day that President Trump is visiting the state to talk about tax reform.
Only four states in the study had a majority of people say that taxes were the No. 1 cause of financial stress.