In Crook County, Il we pay a total of 11% sales tax.
Not all towns pay the same in Texas. Mine is 8%. A mile down the road in another town it’s 8.5%.
Nice but only a piece of a much larger puzzle.
I like http://www.bestplaces.net/col/ to illustrate the difference in cost of living at a particular salary level. I recently “downsized” my COL by 34%.
Yes, it included a move away from California.
One of the few victories in California was voting down the extension of sales tax hikes earlier this year. Dropped 1%
The map shows that Michigan has a combined sales tax of 32.2%. That can’t be right. I even put my glasses on and looked at it.
Need one that combines State Income tax, Sales Tax and Property Taxes to glean a better normalized comparison.
My property tax just dropped to half what it was a few years ago. I now pay $800.00 a year. There are places back east that have the same valuation and they are paying $5,000 a year.
What’s up with Tennessee? They also have an outrageous 17.25% rooms and meals tax the last time I was there in ‘06. I will avoid staying there in the future, not that anybody there cares.
Oregon, [in a 3-way tie at 47th] has no sales tax, but a hefty [but not as hefty as CA’s was in 1984 when I left CA for OR] income tax; and OR property taxes were (during the years 1997-2003 that we had comparably valued property in both states) considerably higher than SD
My point is not to tout SD, nor knock Oregon, but to merely point out that these single facet “analysis” are pretty much worthless. One must look at the entire state & local tax burdens in each state, based upon equal family size, income, deductions, spending, property value (NOT assessed value!) etc. Also needing to be included are vehicle related taxes and fees based on the same vehicle & miles driven/year.
Then there are still other factors not shown in this sales tax % map: WHAT is or isn't taxed? Everything? Everything except food? What about prescriptions? Items for resale? Are there any exemptions/rebates available to elderly/blind/”poor” or others? Are all, or some, “services” taxed as a “sale”; or none?
I'm not sure what the “average” state & local rate has to do with informing a consumer of anything useful, such as how their local rate compares to neighboring rates.
My county's unincorporated area businesses charge the flat state rate; if I shop inside city limits then the rate goes up, with the city's rate + state rate charged. If I go to Rapid City, I pay state + a lower city rate) rate...unless it is a large item from a large retailer that collects based on ZIP Code, in which case I pay my normal, state-only rate.
An aside to all this is, if it is so many different rates just to shop locally, then HOW is a retailer, especially a small one, on the Web supposed to collect the correct rate for each customer's sales tax correctly? Software that is constantly updated? Use of a specialized service? Either one will wipe out their margin; or they can price themselves out of business, to cover the increased costs.