Property taxes are lower than most places, but much higher than surrounding states. Sales taxes, at least in Char-Meck, were high, but still lower than what I pay here in Mountain Brook, a suburb of Birmingham, AL – 10%. Yep, a full 10% sales tax on EVERYTHING, ex autos. At least in the Carolinas, and other locales, they give you a break on groceries. Not here.

So, yes, property taxes are higher in NC than Alabama, but everyone doesn’t own property, now, do they? However, everyone must buy food. Everyone. Unless you grow it. And that is where Alabamians get raped a lot more than Carolinians. Both states have egregiously high income taxes, obtw….

@TakBak04

OK let’s play who pays the most tax. I always enjoying visiting New York and counting taxes on a hotel bill, 6-7 different taxes at the bottom of the bill. New York New York is not bashful about laying on tax. But for daily living, I put North Carolina up against the best in the West (California) and the worst of the East (NY, NJ and CT, Montgomery County MD, and don’t forget Taxachusetts).

—–
In your case moving from Tennesee I can see where you would feel NC is a heavily taxing state. I can tell you that friends of ours in NJ are paying $15,000 a year in property taxes for a house same size, similar build and in similar neighborhood ours in NC and we pay $5,500. The car insurance taxes in NJ when we left were double what we pay here. So….it depends on what one is used to and what county one lives in, perhaps. Agree about the schools. Where does all that money go? Although I hear FLA schools are pretty bad because the retirees there don’t want to pay for education. CT and NY had the best of schools…at least some years back when I was there.

BTW…what is it with those cops? I think they are definitely trying to fill the states budget deficits by tracking folks for minor traffic violations these days.

As a result, demographers have identified a new migration trend–called the “half-back” movement. These are Florida residents moving “half-back” to where they started from, generally up north/northeast. They are settling in the other southern states such as Texas, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia. You can clearly see this in the chart. Same warm weather, but much lower cost-of-living overall, especially housing. More recently, the housing bubble also contributed to this movement.

Interestingly, speaking of taxes, look what Florida has done with its tax structure since the influx of retirees. They have fully repealed their estate tax–which will require amending their Constitution to bring it back–and reformed their property tax system. These two taxes are hated the most by retirees. Coincidence?

New Hampshire is also full of tax refugees from Boston. The most reliably red parts of the state are the towns along the Mass border. Taxes do influence migration.

OK let’s play who pays the most tax. I always enjoying visiting New York and counting taxes on a hotel bill, 6-7 different taxes at the bottom of the bill. New York New York is not bashful about laying on tax. But for daily living, I put North Carolina up against the best in the West (California) and the worst of the East (NY, NJ and CT, Montgomery County MD, and don’t forget Taxachusetts).

Sales – The NC state sales tax is 4.25% (low) but add a plethora of local adders and NC is over 7.25% (the California record).

Cigarette Tax – NC is cheap, $0.35 versus New York, $2.75.

Gasoline Tax – $0.30 versus New York $0.41 (New York wins again)

Property Tax – This is hard to compare. My property tax is 70% of my mortgage payment, and in moving to North Carolina from Tennessee my property tax increased by a factor of 15. Yep 15X more than Knoxville a nice town in Tennessee. My home in NC is of lesser quality and 1,500 ft2 less in size.

State Income Tax – (NC Highest bracket 7.75%, NY 7.85%, NJ 8.97% if you make over ½ million, 6.37% below). Stay away from Hawaii, Oregon, and California which all have over 10%. Florida, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Texas are all free of this one.

North Carolina is tight with the best of the West and worst of the East in every category except cigarettes and property tax. Property tax is astronomical (not counting the hidden taxes like water/sewer rates which quadrupled last year). Nuisance taxes in North Carolina are parading as minor traffic and registration violations. I have paid several $K already this year, and I didn’t speed or drink alcohol, just little catch 22s. When you fly into Raleigh, the curbside cops check the information on you and your plates, then radio any minor slips to patrol cars who pick you up as you drive out of the airport. At least New York is up front and puts their tourist taxes on the hotel bill. Enjoy your visit to Raleigh.

If you want to retire to the South and feed your tobacco habit, come on, smoking is cheap and will stay that way. If want to raise kids, don’t come here. North Carolina always ranks near the bottom in secondary school student performance and near the top in national per student expenditures. Does the concept of incompetence come to mind?

If you are tired of Florida, consider Tennessee; lots of good schools, jobs, great people, great music, and low taxes.

After living in NJ, NYC and CT….I gotta tell you the Carolinas are still cheap for taxes. Particularly property taxes and auto insurance. Housing is also cheaper. But, the sales taxes in the Carolinas are a killer. …and I expect taxes everywhere are going to have to keep going up or the states are going to go broke.

and

@Aypay…
I’ve run into a lot of people lately who are in Carolinas from Florida for the very reasons you stated. Even some retirees who got out before the housing bubble exploded. They could see it coming…the older ones.

After living in NJ, NYC and CT….I gotta tell you the Carolinas are still cheap for taxes. Particularly property taxes and auto insurance. Housing is also cheaper. But, the sales taxes in the Carolinas are a killer. …and I expect taxes everywhere are going to have to keep going up or the states are going to go broke.