Sales Tax Rates Fluctuating This Year

In the first two quarters of 2015, there were 207 sales and use tax rate changes, up from 159 in the first six months of 2014, according to a new report.

Corporate tax technology provider Vertex said in its yearly sales tax rate study that the number of sales and use tax rate changes in the U.S. last year was 491, down from 2013 when there were 609 changes. State sales tax rates mostly remained unchanged in 2014, and for the first half of 2015, so most of the changes happened on the local level and in the territory of Puerto Rico.

“While the numbers for the first half of this year are actually higher than in 2014, the most remarkable pieces of news on the tax rate front so far this year come from Puerto Rico,” said Vertex vice president of tax content development John Minassian in a statement. “Puerto Rico passed a sales tax increase to 11.5 percent from 7 percent, including a local 1 percent rate that is consistent across the commonwealth and went into effect on July 1. The U.S. territory also passed a 4 percent tax on professional services which are currently exempt. This new tax will take effect on Oct. 1, 2015. However, the biggest news is that Puerto Rico will transition to a value-added tax effective April 1, 2016. This represents the first VAT to date in any U.S. territory or possession.”

Indiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Tennessee have the highest state sales tax rates at 7.0 percent, according to the report. Minnesota has the second highest state rate at 6.875 percent.

Kodiak, Alaska and Wrangell, Alaska have the highest city sales tax rate at 7.0 percent. Hoonah, Alaska and Selawik, Alaska, have the second highest rate of 6.5 percent. Tuba City (including the surrounding areas that are in the To’Nanees’Dizi local government of the Navajo Nation), Coconino County, Ariz., has the highest combined sales tax rate of 12.6 percent.

From Jan. 1, 2005 to Dec. 31, 2014, there have been 2,152 new sales and use taxes, an average of 215 per year, and 4,182 sales and use tax changes, an average of 418 per year. The combined number of new and changed sales and use tax rates during that period is 6,334, an average of 633 per year.

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