Sales Tax Calculator: Add or Remove Tax, by State
Work forwards from a shelf price to the amount you will actually pay, or backwards from a receipt total to the pre-tax price and the tax inside it. Pick a state to pre-fill its base rate, add your local rate on top, and itemise a whole basket with exempt lines if you need to. Everything runs in your browser.
Prices before tax
Subtotal
$0.00
Sales tax @ 7.25%
$0.00
Total to pay
$0.00
Line by line
| Item | Net | Tax |
|---|---|---|
| Item 1 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| Total | $0.00 | $0.00 |
Read this before you rely on the number
The dropdown fills in the state base rate only, as published for 1 July 2026. City, county, parish, borough and special-district taxes stack on top and can add several percent — in some places more than the state rate itself. Rates change, exemptions differ by product (groceries, clothing, prescriptions, software and services are all treated differently from state to state), and sourcing rules decide whether the buyer’s or the seller’s address applies. Confirm the rate for the exact delivery address with your state’s Department of Revenue before using it to file, invoice or price anything. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
TL;DR
Adding tax is price × (1 + rate). Removing it is total ÷ (1 + rate) — not total × (1 − rate), which is the mistake that quietly under-reports the tax on a great many online calculators and spreadsheets. The state rate in the dropdown is only half the answer: forty-odd states let cities, counties, parishes and transit districts stack their own tax on top, and in Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Missouri the local share can rival or beat the state one. Look the exact address up before you invoice anyone.
The reverse calculation almost everyone gets wrong
Suppose a receipt says 107.00 and you know the combined rate was 7%. The obvious move is to take 7% off the total: that gives 99.51, and it is wrong. The tax was never 7% of the total. It was 7% of the pre-tax price, which is a smaller number, so a percentage taken off the finished total always removes too much.
Run it the right way round. If the pre-tax price is p, the total is p × 1.07. To recover p you divide rather than subtract: 107.00 ÷ 1.07 = 100.00, and the tax is the remainder, 7.00. The shortcut answer was 0.49out on a single small purchase. At Louisiana’s combined rates the same shortcut is out by more than a dollar per hundred, and across a year of expense claims or a VAT-style reconciliation it compounds into a real number that will not tie back to anything.
total = price + tax = price × (1 + rate)
price = total ÷ (1 + rate) ← the reverse
tax = total − price
Rates go in as decimals in that formula: 7% is 0.07, so you divide by 1.07. The tool does this for you and, when you are in reverse mode, shows what the wrong formula would have produced on your own figures — a useful thing to paste into an argument with a spreadsheet.
Why the state rate is almost never the rate you pay
American sales tax is not one tax. It is a state tax with anywhere from zero to four further layers bolted on: county, city, and special districts for transit, stadiums, hospitals or tourism. The dropdown in this calculator fills in the state layer, because that is the part that is stable, published and the same everywhere within the state. The rest depends on the street.
How much difference that makes varies enormously. Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and Rhode Island have no general local sales taxes at all, so the state rate is the whole story. At the other extreme, Colorado’s 2.9% state rate is the lowest non-zero rate in the country and yet Coloradans routinely pay 8% or more, because local rates there average more than the state rate. Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Missouri are in the same position. In Texas the local add-on is capped at 2%, so 8.25% is both the ceiling and, in the big cities, the norm.
Three states quietly include a mandatory local share inside the figure they call the state rate: California (1.25 points of its 7.25%), Utah (1.25 of 6.1%) and Virginia (1 of 5.3%). That is why California’s headline rate looks so much higher than New York’s 4% even though a New York City shopper pays 8.875% and a shopper in much of California pays less than that.
State base sales tax rates, and what each state does on top
Every rate below is the state-level base only, transcribed from the Tax Foundation’s published state-rate tables as of 1 July 2026. Forty-four of the fifty-one were then confirmed directly against the state’s own revenue department or statute; seven (Alaska, Hawaii, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Utah) could not be, because those sites block automated requests. The third column is the part most tables leave out: what stacks on top, and which categories behave oddly. Five states — Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon — levy no statewide sales tax, but only Delaware genuinely charges a shopper nothing anywhere.
| State | Base rate | What sits on top |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 4% | Local taxes here are the highest in the country — averaging about 5.5% on top, and reaching 12.5% combined in some cities. |
| Alaska | 0% | No statewide sales tax, but boroughs and cities levy their own. Juneau, Ketchikan and many others charge several percent, so a 0% total is wrong in much of the state. |
| Arizona | 5.6% | Levied as a transaction privilege tax on the seller; cities add their own TPT on top. |
| Arkansas | 6.5% | The reduced state rate on groceries is now 0%; local taxes still apply to food. |
| California | 7.25% | Highest state-level rate in the US. It already includes a 1.25% mandatory local share; district taxes add up to several percent more. |
| Colorado | 2.9% | Lowest non-zero state rate, but local rates average about 5% — some home-rule cities administer their own tax separately. |
| Connecticut | 6.35% | No local sales taxes, so the state rate is usually the whole story. |
| Delaware | 0% | No sales tax at all. Businesses pay a gross receipts tax instead, but it is not charged to the shopper as a line item. |
| District of Columbia | 6% | Rises to 7.0% for periods beginning on or after 1 October 2026 (DC Office of Tax and Revenue). No local add-on, but restaurant meals, hotels and some other categories carry their own higher rates. |
| Florida | 6% | Counties add a discretionary surtax, commonly 0.5%–2%. |
| Georgia | 4% | Local taxes average around 3.5%, so combined rates are usually 7%–8%. |
| Hawaii | 4% | Technically a general excise tax on the business, not a sales tax, and it applies to far more transactions — including services. All four counties now add a 0.5% surcharge, and because the tax is itself taxable the rate passed on to customers is slightly higher than 4.5%. |
| Idaho | 6% | Local taxes are rare — only resort cities and auditorium districts levy them. |
| Illinois | 6.25% | Chicago's combined rate is among the highest of any large US city. The 1% state grocery tax ended on 1 January 2026; many municipalities replaced it with a local 1% grocery tax, so what you pay on food depends on the town. |
| Indiana | 7% | No local sales taxes — 7% is the rate everywhere in the state. |
| Iowa | 6% | Most jurisdictions add a 1% local option tax. |
| Kansas | 6.5% | Groceries are exempt from the state rate; local taxes on food may still apply. |
| Kentucky | 6% | No local sales taxes. |
| Louisiana | 5% | Raised from 4.45% on 1 January 2025 and scheduled to fall to 4.75% in 2030. Parish and city taxes push the combined rate past 10% on average — the highest in the country. |
| Maine | 5.5% | No local sales taxes, but prepared food and lodging carry higher state rates. |
| Maryland | 6% | No local sales taxes. |
| Massachusetts | 6.25% | No local sales taxes on general goods. Clothing is exempt up to a per-item threshold. |
| Michigan | 6% | No local sales taxes. |
| Minnesota | 6.875% | Clothing is exempt statewide. Local taxes in the Twin Cities metro add over 1%. |
| Mississippi | 7% | Local taxes are minimal — only a handful of cities levy one. |
| Missouri | 4.225% | Local rates average more than the state rate itself, so the combined figure is typically 8%–9%. |
| Montana | 0% | No general sales tax. Some resort towns such as Whitefish and Big Sky levy a local resort tax on lodging and prepared food. |
| Nebraska | 5.5% | Cities may add up to 2%. |
| Nevada | 6.85% | Most counties add a local rate on top — Clark (Las Vegas) and Washoe (Reno) are well above the base — though a few rural counties sit at exactly 6.85%. |
| New Hampshire | 0% | No sales tax on goods. A separate meals and rooms tax applies to restaurants, hotels and car rentals. |
| New Jersey | 6.625% | No general local taxes. Designated Urban Enterprise Zones charge half the state rate on some in-person sales. |
| New Mexico | 4.875% | A gross receipts tax on the seller rather than a sales tax, and local add-ons vary widely by county and city. |
| New York | 4% | Local rates average 4.5% on top — New York City's combined rate is 8.875%. Clothing under $110 per item is exempt from the state portion. |
| North Carolina | 4.75% | Counties add 2%–3.5%. Mecklenburg (Charlotte) rose to 3.5% on 1 July 2026, taking the combined rate to 8.25%. |
| North Dakota | 5% | City and county taxes commonly add 1%–3%, often with a per-sale refund cap. |
| Ohio | 5.75% | County and transit-authority taxes add 0.75%–2.25%. |
| Oklahoma | 4.5% | Local taxes average more than the state rate. Groceries are exempt from the state portion but not the local one. |
| Oregon | 0% | No sales tax. Ashland's local prepared-food tax is the rare exception, and some vehicle and bicycle sales carry their own taxes. |
| Pennsylvania | 6% | Only Philadelphia (2%) and Allegheny County (1%) add a local tax. Clothing and most groceries are exempt. |
| Rhode Island | 7% | No local sales taxes. Clothing is exempt up to a per-item threshold. |
| South Carolina | 6% | Counties add 0%–3% in local option and capital project taxes; around twenty jurisdictions impose none. |
| South Dakota | 4.2% | Reduced from 4.5% to 4.2% in 2023; the reduction is scheduled to expire, so check before relying on it. |
| Tennessee | 7% | Local rates add about 2.6%, giving one of the highest combined rates in the country. Groceries are taxed at a reduced state rate. |
| Texas | 6.25% | Local jurisdictions may add up to 2%, so 8.25% is the maximum and a very common combined rate. |
| Utah | 6.1% | Includes a 1.25% mandatory local share collected statewide. Additional local options push most areas higher. |
| Vermont | 6% | Some municipalities add a 1% local option tax. |
| Virginia | 5.3% | Includes a 1% mandatory local share. Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads add a regional tax, and groceries carry a reduced rate. |
| Washington | 6.5% | Local taxes add about 3% on average, and they vary street by street — Washington bases the rate on the delivery address. |
| West Virginia | 6% | A number of municipalities add 1%. |
| Wisconsin | 5% | Most counties add 0.5%; Milwaukee adds considerably more. |
| Wyoming | 4% | Counties add up to 3%. |
Sales tax law changes constantly — Louisiana’s state rate moved from 4.45% to 5% at the start of 2025 and is legislated to fall again in 2030, and South Dakota’s reduction to 4.2% carries an expiry date. Treat this table as a starting point and a sanity check, never as a filing source.
The same basket, taxed four different ways
A single rate applied to the whole receipt is a simplification, and for most shopping baskets it is the wrong one. What is taxable is decided category by category, and states disagree profoundly. Groceries are fully exempt in some states, taxed at a reduced rate in others such as Arkansas and Tennessee, and taxed at the full rate in a handful. Clothing is exempt in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, exempt below a per-item threshold in New York and Massachusetts, and ordinary taxable goods almost everywhere else. Prescription medicine is close to universally exempt; over-the-counter medicine usually is not.
Services are the messiest category of all. Traditional sales tax applied to tangible goods, and most states never fully caught up with an economy that sells software subscriptions, streaming, consulting and repairs. Some states tax digital products explicitly, some tax them only if the buyer gets permanent access, and some do not tax them at all. Hawaii and New Mexico sidestep the question with gross receipts taxes that apply to nearly everything, which is why their apparently modest rates hit a far wider base than a conventional sales tax at the same percentage.
That is what the exempt toggle on each line is for. Mark the zero-rated items, leave the rest taxable, and the summary charges tax only on the taxable subtotal while still showing you the full amount payable. It is the only honest way to model a real basket, and it is also how a genuine point-of-sale system works.
Four jobs this calculator actually does
Budgeting a purchase. A price tag in the United States is almost never what you pay at the till, which catches out visitors and anyone comparing prices across state lines. Add mode turns the tag into the real number before you commit to it.
Splitting a receipt for expenses. Accounting software wants the net amount and the tax separately, and a faded receipt often shows only the total. Reverse mode recovers both, and because the tool derives the tax as total minus net rather than computing it independently, the two always add back to exactly what you paid — no orphan cent to explain.
Pricing for a tax-inclusive market. If you want a product to land on a round $25 including tax, you cannot price it at $25 and hope. Put 25 into reverse mode at your combined rate and it tells you the shelf price that gets you there.
Checking a bill you do not trust. Itemise the basket, mark the exempt lines, and compare the line-by-line table to the printed receipt. Mis-taxed grocery and clothing lines are one of the more common retail errors, and they are invisible unless someone does this arithmetic.
Why your total can be a cent off a shop’s
Tax on 19.99 at 8.25% is 1.649175 of a dollar, and no till can charge that. Something has to round, and the answer depends on when. A system that taxes each line and rounds each result gets a different answer from one that sums the basket first and rounds once at the end — usually by a cent or two, occasionally more on a long receipt. Both are defensible; states publish rules about which they expect, and some still publish bracket tables that specify the tax on each price band outright.
This calculator rounds every line to the cent and then sums the rounded lines, so the summary always reconciles with the rows you can see on screen. If your receipt disagrees by a cent, that is almost certainly the reason, and it is not worth a phone call. If it disagrees by more, check the rate first and the exempt lines second. For the compounding side of money — what a purchase costs if you finance it — the loan calculator and the discount calculator cover the other two arithmetic traps in retail pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate sales tax on a price?
Multiply the pre-tax price by the combined rate expressed as a decimal, then add it back. At a 7% combined rate, a $50 item carries $50 × 0.07 = $3.50 of tax and costs $53.50. If you want the total in one step, multiply by 1 plus the rate: $50 × 1.07 = $53.50. The combined rate is the state rate plus every local, county and special-district rate that applies at that address, which is why the state figure on its own usually understates the bill.
How do I calculate sales tax backwards from a total?
Divide the tax-inclusive total by 1 plus the rate; the result is the pre-tax price, and the difference is the tax. At 7%, a $107.00 total divides by 1.07 to give $100.00 of goods and $7.00 of tax. Do not subtract 7% from the total — that gives $99.51 and overstates the tax by 49 cents, because the tax was a percentage of the smaller pre-tax figure, not of the finished total. The error grows with the rate and with the amount.
Which states have no sales tax?
Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon levy no statewide general sales tax. Only Delaware is genuinely tax-free at the till everywhere: Alaskan boroughs and cities run their own sales taxes, several Montana resort towns levy a local resort tax on lodging and prepared food, New Hampshire charges a separate meals and rooms tax, and Oregon has a local prepared-food tax in Ashland. Delaware instead taxes businesses through a gross receipts tax that is not itemised on a customer’s receipt.
Are the state rates in this calculator current?
They reflect the state-level base rates published as of 1 July 2026, transcribed from the Tax Foundation’s state and local sales tax rate tables, with most then confirmed against the state’s own revenue department or statute. They are base rates only and they do change — legislatures adjust them, and several current rates carry scheduled expiry or step-down dates. Confirm the rate for your exact address with your state’s Department of Revenue before using it to file a return, issue an invoice or set a price.
Why does my state’s rate here differ from what I was charged?
Almost always because of local tax. The dropdown fills in the state layer only, and cities, counties, parishes and transit districts add their own on top — in Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri and Oklahoma the local share often exceeds the state share. Two other causes are common: the item may be in a category your state taxes at a reduced rate or not at all, and for a delivered purchase the rate usually follows the delivery address rather than the seller’s. Type the rate from your receipt into the combined rate box to override the state figure.
Is sales tax charged on the price before or after a discount?
In the great majority of cases tax is calculated on the discounted price, because a store discount reduces the actual selling price. Manufacturer coupons and rebates are the classic exception: in several states the manufacturer is reimbursing the retailer, so the full pre-coupon price remains the taxable amount. If you are modelling a sale price here, work out the discounted figure first and enter that as the pre-tax price.
This page is general information about how sales tax arithmetic works, not tax advice, and it is not a substitute for a rate lookup at a specific address. Rates and exemption rules change, vary by locality and depend on what is being sold and where it is delivered. Confirm the figures with your state’s Department of Revenue or a qualified tax professional before relying on them for filing, invoicing or pricing.