The Democrat majority North Carolina legislature enacted a new tax law that will increase the state sales tax by one percent starting September 1, 2009.  Democrat Governor Beverly Perdue signed the law.

According to the new tax law state sales tax goes up by 1%.  The total sales tax in Mecklenburg County gets up to 8.25%.  The counties of Alexander, Catawba, Cumberland, Haywood, Martin, Pitt, Sampson, and Surry end up at 8%.  The rest of the counties will collect 7.75% sales tax.

The taxes on alcohol and tobacco have gone up as well: a pack of cigarettes cost 45 cents more.  Tax on beer (12 oz) increased by over 5 cents.  Wine went up 21 cents per liter.  Tax on liquor increased by 28%.

North Carolina taxes

According to TaxFoundation.org NC rates the following way compared to other states:

• 25th in the Tax Freedom Day rating: On average a North Carolina resident's income between Jan 1 and Apr 9 goes into paying taxes.
• 20th in the amount of taxes: We pay on average 9.8% into state, county, and city taxes.  That's in addition to the federal taxes.