The Tax Foundation, a Washington D.C. based research group, just released their 2020 State Business Tax Climate Index.
In spite of modest decreases in the personal and corporate income tax rates this year, North Carolina’s ranking slipped a few spots, falling from 12th to 15th.
As the report notes, the personal and corporate income tax changes were not sufficient enough to enable NC to leapfrog other states, but “changes to the state’s unemployment insurance tax regime, along with improvements in other highly competitive states, slid the state three places from 12th to 15th.”
The Tar Heel state has seen dramatic improvement thanks to historic tax reforms in 2013. Prior to the reforms, NC ranked a lowly 44th (7th worst) in the nation, but the following year climbed to 16th best, the largest one-year improvement in the history of the Index.
In the years since the historic reforms, NC has enjoyed rankings hovering typically in the 12th or 13th slot.
Still, the 15 slot is second highest in the southeast region behind Florida (4th), and above neighbors SC (30), VA (25) and TN (18).
