The Tax Resources Blog

Archive for October, 1999

Sales Tax Virginia Maryland

Question: why are sales taxes so much higher in North Carolina than in Virginia/MD, yet houses are cheaper in NC?

It is much cheaper to live in NC than VA or MD, like you can get very cheap houses on/near the northeastern coast of NC (believe me, just look up some towns in that area and look on remax.com and there will be plenty of cheap houses), and you can easily plant a garden in that area. Yet I dare you to find a house that is anywhere NEAR cheap ANYWHERE in Maryland. But at the same time sales taxes are lower in MD and VA than in NC. So why are they lower in MD/VA, yet houses are so expensive in MD/VA? Also, does ayone know if any of the counties in the northeastern shore area of NC, specifically bertie county, have a vehicle inspection program? Because I know some small counties in some states do not have the program, meaning you do not have to get your vehicle inspected. And I would want to be able to not have to get an inspection if I moved to NC.

Answer: Houses in northeast NC that are not ON the coast are cheaper. (Houses that are literally on the coast are not cheap.) That’s because it’s a very rural area in general, and the economy is generally just puttering along at best. The same is true, by the way, for the parts of Virginia that border those NC counties.

Housing prices in MD and in the northern part of VA are essentially driven by proximity to urban areas such as DC. This is also true but to a lesser degree for areas of NC such as near the Triangle (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill) or Charlotte.

Comparisons of taxes between states should include Sales Tax, property tax, business taxes, and Income Taxes, at the very least. Comparing just one of these will get you a misleading picture.

The impact of a 1 percent Sales Tax hike in Maryland.