It’s not news that most people complain about having to pay taxes. New Yorkers seem to especially complain about their state and local tax burden. The Tax Foundation, with a database that currently covers the years 1977-2012, interprets the tax burden of individual taxpayers by measuring what they actually spend in local and state taxes. Its. According to its rankings of states with the highest state and local tax burdens, Americans paid an average rate of 9.9 percent in state and local taxes in 2012. Further, the state with the highest state-local tax burden was New York at 12.7 %. In fact, the top three states – New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – have been ranked as the top three in this category since 2005. Not surprisingly, New York’s tax laws are relatively complex compared to other U.S. states. Here are some things to know about taxes in the Empire State.