Highest and Lowest Tax Rates – 2012 State and Local Taxes
According to this newly released report by the Tax Foundation the 2012 tax figures for states might not be all they seem. Even in states that do not have a state sales tax the local taxes can add up considerably.
So what states score highest and lowest if you consider the combined rate of state and local sales taxes?
Winners:
Delaware with no state or local sales tax at all!!!
Montana residents benefit from the same as those in Delaware and pay no sales tax at all in state.
New Hampshire has the same deal.
Oregon also provides its residents the “no sales tax” lifestyle.
5 States with the Lowest Combined Sales Tax:
Alaska has no state sales tax but does have an average local sales tax of 1.77% – not much to worry about.
Hawaii has the lowest state sales tax at 4% (a figured it shares with several other states) and its local sales taxes are also low so it scores second cheapest state to buy things in (or would if everything wasn’t more expensive anyway due to having to be imported into the islands).
Main and Virginia tie at number 3 with a flat 5% state sales tax and no local sales taxes.
Wyoming is next with a 4% state tax and an average local tax rate of 1.34%.
5 States with the Highest Combined Sales Tax:
Tennessee carries the flag proudly proclaiming the highest sales tax at a combined rate of 9.45%!
Arizona comes next with 9.12%.
Louisiana is third with 8.85% as despite Louisiana’s low state sales tax the average local sales taxes are 4.85%!
Washington isn’t far behind with a state sales tax of 6.5% and a average local sales tax of 2.3%.
Oklahoma scores at number 5 for the highest combined sales tax with 8.66% (4.5% state and 4.16% local).
Read the report for all the figures and an interesting map of the US color coded according to the combined sales tax rates (personally I think they could have used a few more colors!).
Tags: 2012, sales tax, tax
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