Early Holiday Gift: Sales Tax Cut Goes Into Effect December 1st, 2006

North Carolina consumers will see savings at the checkout counter due to a cut in the state sales tax rate that goes into effect Friday, December 1 – just in time for the upcoming holiday shopping season. Legislators approved a reduction of the state’s sales tax earlier this summer, reducing it from 4.5 percent to 4.25 percent. It is estimated that this tax cut will save our state’s taxpayers $140.1 million during the next seven months. Additional tax cuts take effect on January 1, 2007. You may remember that a temporary sales tax was enacted in 2001 during the height of the recession; this reduction and the additional cut on January 1, 2007 represent the expiration of that temporary tax.