U.S. Sales Tax Rates Hit Record High

Forbes ^ | March 8, 2010 | William P. Barrett

[Willie Green]

Shopping blues: Top tax 12%. Chicago's 10.25% highest big-city rate. More Internet tax fights loom.

While President Obama's push to raise federal income taxes for the wealthy gets lots of attention, the continuing upward creep in the sales tax rates imposed by state and local governments has gotten less notice.

But Vertex Inc., which calculates sales tax for Internet sellers, reports that the average general sales tax rate nationwide reached 8.629% at the end of 2009, the highest since the Berwyn, Pa., company started tracking data in 1982. That was up a nickel on a taxable $100 purchase from a year earlier and up nearly 40 cents for the decade. The highest sales tax rate in the country now stands at 12%.

[Memphis Moe]

Yes, 1) Get rid of the income tax.2) Don’t begin the Fair Tax. 3) Eliminate government jobs and entitlements.

[Hostage]

Total BS. Shows you gave no substantive knowledge of the reality of American business.

[Alberta's Child]

Very interesting history lesson -- thanks!

There's a lot to be said for regressive taxation, since it is based on the presumption that each and every resident in a jurisdiction should pay some minimal amount of taxes that roughly correlate to their use of public services and assets. It's sort of like a "reverse alternative minimum tax" -- paid by those at the lowest levels of the income ladder.