North Carolinians will dedicate 11.0 percent of income to pay taxes this year according to the Tax Foundation, up from 10.7 percent in 2006. This tax burden is tied for the 17th highest in the country and is again higher than the neighboring states of South Carolina (10.7%), Georgia (10.3%), Virginia (10.2%), and Tennessee (8.5%).
For comparison, in 2002 North Carolina was tied for 28th highest burden at 10.0 percent. Neighboring states were also closer – Georgia (10.0%), South Carolina (9.9%), Virginia (9.7%), and Tennessee (8.2%).
UPDATE: The full report is available online here. North Carolina’s higher tax burden merits its own paragraph:
North Carolina?s jump of 17 places in seven years is especially startling. The likely
culprit is the ?temporary? increase in both its individual income and sales taxes. Expiration
dates have long passed since enactment in 2001, and both taxes raise large amounts of
revenue. Despairing of expiration, the state has now scheduled smaller decreases in both taxes for 2007 and 2008.
