12/08/2020

North Carolina now ranks among the Top 10 most competitive business tax climates in the nation and is the only Southeast U.S. state other than Florida to make the list of tip-top leaders, according to the latest ranking from the Tax Foundation.

North Carolina comes in at No. 10 in the 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index recently released by the foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The state rises from No. 15 in the 2020 report.

The latest ranking marks the first time North Carolina has broken into the study’s Top 10. The state almost did so in 2017 and 2018, when North Carolina came in at No. 11.

North Carolina is a top performer regionally in the latest ranking. Other states in the Southeast and their respective rankings include: South Carolina (33), Georgia (31), Virginia (26), Tennessee (18), and Florida (4).

The 10 worst business tax climates, according to the study, are: New Jersey (50), California (49), New York (48), Connecticut (47), Minnesota (46), Arkansas (45), Maryland (44), Vermont (43), Louisiana (42), Alabama (41).

The Tax Foundation’s annual ranking considers individual income tax, sales tax, corporate income tax, property taxes, and unemployment insurance taxes.

Click here to read the full 2021 State Business Tax Climate Index report.