In 11 Southern states, the poorest 20% spend more on sales taxes than the top 1% spends on all state and local taxes: Share of family income paid in taxes in the South, lowest 20% vs. top 1%
| Sales | Property | Income | Total |
Rank |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Lowest 20% | Top 1% | Lowest 20% | Top 1% | Lowest 20% | Top 1% | Lowest 20% | Top 1% | |
| Florida | 7.4% | 1.0% | 5.5% | 1.6% | 0.1% | 10.0% | 13.2% | 2.7% | 1 |
| Tennessee | 9.6% | 1.7% | 2.7% | 1.2% | 0.2% | 0.7% | 12.8% | 3.8% | 3 |
| Texas | 8.1% | 1.5% | 4.5% | 2.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 12.8% | 4.6% | 7 |
| Arkansas | 10.0% | 1.5% | 2.8% | 1.2% | 0.1% | 3.0% | 13.1% | 5.8% | 9 |
| Louisiana | 9.6% | 1.9% | 2.9% | 1.4% | 0.5% | 3.0% | 13.1% | 6.5% | 10 |
| Alabama | 7.2% | 1.3% | 2.5% | 1.0% | 1.9% | 2.9% | 11.9% | 5.4% | 12 |
| Oklahoma | 8.3% | 1.3% | 3.7% | 1.2% | -0.1% | 3.3% | 12.2% | 6.3% | 16 |
| Kentucky | 7.1% | 1.3% | 3.8% | 1.2% | 1.3% | 4.0% | 12.4% | 6.6% | 17 |
| Mississippi | 8.4% | 2.0% | 3.8% | 1.8% | 0.1% | 3.1% | 12.4% | 6.9% | 19 |
| North Carolina | 6.6% | 1.1% | 3.4% | 1.3% | 0.4% | 3.6% | 10.5% | 6.0% | 24 |
| West Virginia | 7.3% | 1.3% | 2.9% | 1.3% | 0.6% | 4.0% | 11.6% | 7.2% | 28 |
| Georgia | 6.0% | 1.0% | 3.5% | 1.8% | 0.7% | 4.1% | 10.3% | 6.9% | 33 |
| South Carolina | 5.5% | 0.8% | 4.3% | 1.6% | 0.1% | 4.0% | 10.1% | 6.5% | 34 |
| Virginia | 4.9% | 0.8% | 2.9% | 1.6% | 0.4% | 4.5% | 8.7% | 7.2% | 37 |
| Delaware | 3.4% | 0.4% | 3.4% | 1.1% | 1.0% | 5.1% | 8.2% | 6.8% | 40 |
| Maryland | 6.3% | 4.4% | 3.7% | 1.7% | -0.5% | 6.4% | 9.6% | 9.0% | 41 |
| District of Columbia | 5.5% | 0.8% | 4.0% | 2.4% | -4.9% | 8.1% | 4.8% | 11.4% | 51 |
Note: States are ranked by regressivity of state and local taxes: 1 is most unfair.
Source: Adapted from Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). 2024. Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States (7th Edition). January 2024.