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A $200 meal doesn’t cost the same everywhere. In some states, you might pay an extra $20 in sales tax; in others, you’d owe nothing at all.
Across the country, sales tax policies vary widely, and unlike income taxes, which scale with your earnings, sales taxes hit everyone equally at the register. That’s what makes them regressive: lower-income households spend a larger share of their income on taxable goods than wealthier households, consuming a bigger portion of their budget. In high sales tax states, this can make routine expenses more burdensome, especially for families already stretching every dollar.
States with no sales tax often market that fact as a draw for residents and shoppers. But as with income taxes, the absence of one type of tax doesn’t necessarily mean the overall tax burden is low. Without a sales tax, states must make up for the lost revenue somewhere, whether through higher property taxes, income taxes, or fees.
And don’t forget: local governments can add on their own sales taxes, too, meaning the rate you actually pay at the register might be far higher than the state’s baseline. In places like Tennessee or Louisiana, the combined state and local rates can approach, or exceed, 10%.
For anyone deciding where to live or shop, sales tax rates are worth paying attention to, but they’re only one part of the equation. The key is to consider your total tax burden, from the property taxes on your home to the income taxes on your paycheck.
Using data from Intuit $INTU Turbotax, we’ve compiled a list of states with the highest and lowest average combined sales tax rates — these numbers account for both state and local sales tax.
Continue reading to see which states will take the biggest chunk of change at the register — and which won’t at all.
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Alabama has an average statewide combined sales tax of 9.29%.
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Washington has an average statewide combined sales tax of 9.38%.
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Arkansas has an average statewide combined sales tax of 9.45%.
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Tennessee has an average statewide combined sales tax of 9.55%.
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Louisiana has an average statewide combined sales tax of 9.56%.
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Maine has an average statewide combined sales tax rate of 5.5%.
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Wyoming has an average statewide combined sales tax rate of 5.44%.
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Hawaii has an average statewide combined sales tax rate of 4.50%.
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Alaska has no statewide sales tax, but when you factor the sales taxes imposed by local communities, the state has an average statewide combined sales tax rate of 1.82%.
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Oregon, New Hampshire, Montana, and Delaware all have no sales tax.
