Your formerly two cents’ worth
Based on Tax Foundation numbers for the end of September, TaxProf Blog maps the states by sales tax, and Tennessee, at a 9.41-percent statewide average, comes in at the top. (Four states — New Hampshire, Delaware, Oregon, and Montana — get by with no sales tax at all.)
Oklahoma places fourth, at 8.44 percent. The official state sales tax is 4.5 percent, so the rest of that has to come from city and/or county levies. In Oklahoma City proper, it’s 8.375 percent, except in the parts of the city that extend into Canadian County, where an additional 0.35 percent is charged, and in the parts of the city that extend into Cleveland County, where an additional 0.25 percent is charged. There’s a 1-percent tax in Pottawatomie County, but I don’t think there’s any retail activity in the 160-acre segment of Oklahoma City that extends past Pottawatomie Road.
Tulsa, mostly, pays 8.517 percent; 1.017 is a Tulsa County levy. (In Osage County, Tulsa pays 8.75; in Wagoner County, 8.8.) Perhaps the worst is in the part of Fort Gibson that lies in Cherokee County: 4.5 for the state, 2.0 for the county, and 4.5 for the city, for a staggering 11 percent.
Bill Quick, meanwhile, notes some contributors to California’s second-ranked 9.06-percent average:
In my hometown of San Francisco, for instance, the combined rate is 9.5% (no, Glenn, you’re not number one, not even close). And Alameda County’s rate to the south of us is 9.75%. There are even a couple of locales in the Los Angeles area that are 10.25%.
I’m sure folks in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma will be happy to hear that they’re paying higher sales taxes than San Francisco.
Commenters to the TaxProf blog have been complaining that this list only covers sales tax and therefore doesn’t present a true picture of the tax burdens endured in any individual state. I must point out that yes, the list only covers sales tax, that’s what it was supposed to do in the first place.
fillyjonk »
18 October 2009 · 5:17 pm
I believe that locally, we’re at 9.125% now. And there’s talk of another quarter or half percent for…I forget what it was now they claimed it would do but I guess it’s coming up for a vote this fall. (At any rate, it wasn’t something I’m slavering to pay an additional penny or so per gallon of milk to have).
McGehee »
18 October 2009 · 8:38 pm
Alaska would be on that list were it not for local levies — though I’m pretty sure the 4% charged by the City of North Pole doesn’t affect enough sales to account for all of that 1.13% shown on the map. There must be a sales tax in Anchorage, where probably most of the retail activity in Alaska, in terms of dollars, almost certainly takes place.
CGHill »
18 October 2009 · 9:18 pm
Voters in Fairbanks and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough rejected sales taxes this month; I don’t think one came up for consideration in Anchorage.
Wasilla has a 2.5-percent tax, with a $12.50 cap: no single transaction can be taxed at greater than $12.50.
McGehee »
18 October 2009 · 11:12 pm
Fairbanks-area we-know-better types have been pushing for a sales tax for years (among other things) and it’s yet another of those things they’re just going to keep losing on.
It’s hard to imagine an average local sales tax up there of 1.13% without Anchorage’s participation. I was only there once (not counting the airport), in 1996, and don’t remember whether there was a sales tax then or not.
Not a list we want to be at the top of : Oklahomans For Responsible Government »
20 October 2009 · 5:30 pm
[...] hat tip to the Dustbury blog for linking to this Tax Foundation posting that ranks states based on the average state and local [...]