Posted by Update: Regarding this story, the Arab Tribune says that Forbes.com doesn’t have it quite right.
Alabama is #1 again – on the list of where you find the highest sales tax in the country: Arab, Alabama.
The tiny sliver of this northeastern Alabama city of 7,500 jutting south into Cullman County has the dubious distinction — by far — of the country’s highest local sales tax rate. Here’s the breakdown: 4% to Alabama, 4% to the county and 4% to Arab. The city’s name comes from Washington, D.C., bureaucrats who a century ago misread Arad on an application to open a post office.
The parts of Collinsville and Piedmont that are in Cherokee County along with all of Hayneville also make the list with their 10.5% sales tax.
A consideration that makes Alabama’s sales tax even more burdensome is that, unlike the other states represented on the list, Alabama does not give any sales tax relief to anyone for the purchase of groceries. (That is also true of Mississippi, but Mississippi didn’t have any municipalities listed among those with the highest sales tax rates.)
Fun fact: If you’re unfamiliar with Arab, AL, you may want to know that its pronunciation rhymes with “PAY cab.”
Thanks to reader L.
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Did you hear the one about the trucker who broke down outside Arab and another trucker drove him to a Dairy Queen in town to call for help?
On the way they got into a friendly argument about how to pronounce “Arab”. The first trucker insisted it was “ERrib” while the second insisted it was actually “AY-rab”
So they’ve gone back and forth over a cup of coffee and finally the first guy says “Well, we can settle it right here” and gets the attention of the woman behind the counter, “Me and him have been arguing for an hour over how to pronounce the name of this place. Can you tell it to us, nice and slow so we get the pronunciation right?”
She blinks and complies, “Ya’ll are at DAI-RY-EE QUE-EEN”
So if the Grocery Tax bill passed, you would still be paying 8% tax on Groceries plus paying whatever new tax Barron thinks up.
I am traveling through and was shocked at the sales tax rates. I lived in Cali for a while and though 8.75% was high….. I might try to avoid traveling through this state.