LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A study released Tuesday shows Arkansas has one of the highest sales tax rates in the nation.
The study by the Tax Foundation found Arkansas was number three for the nation’s highest sales tax rate when state and average local taxes were combined. Arkansas, with its 9.46% combined rate, was third in line behind Tennessee’s 9.548% combined rate and Louisiana’s highest-in-the-nation sales tax rate of 9.55%.
The figures were derived from the state sales tax, which in Arkansas is 6.5%, added to the average local sales tax rate in the state of 2.96%. For state tax only, Arkansas is the ninth-highest rate in the country according to foundation figures. The local sales tax average is what moved the state to the third-highest combined rate.
The foundation report showed the lowest combined sales tax rate was Alaska at 1.76%, followed by Hawaii at 4.44%, with Wyoming in third at 5.36%.
Five states do not have state sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon. Of these, Alaska allows localities to charge local sales taxes.
