How does Virginia’s tax code compare? Virginia has a graduated state individual income tax, with rates ranging from 2.00 percent to 5.75 percent. Virginia has a 6.0 percent corporate income tax rate. Virginia also has a 4.30 percent state sales tax rate, a 1 percent mandatory, statewide, local add-on sales tax rate, and an average combined state and local sales tax rate of 5.77 percent. Virginia has a 0.72 percent effective property tax rate on owner-occupied housing value.
Virginia does not have an estate tax or inheritance tax. Virginia has a 39.10 cents per gallon gas tax rate and a $0.60 cigarette excise tax rate. The State of Virginia collects $6,179 in state and local tax collections per capita. Virginia has $7,806 in state and local debt per capita and has an 86 percent funded ratio of public pension plans. Virginia’s tax system ranks 28th overall on the 2025 State Tax Competitiveness Index.
Each state’s tax code is a multifaceted system with many moving parts, and Virginia is no exception. The first step towards understanding Virginia’s tax code is knowing the basics. How does Virginia collect tax revenue? Click the tabs below to learn more! You can also explore our state tax maps, which are compiled from our annual publication, Facts & Figures 2024: How Does Your State Compare?
Subscribe to get insights from our trusted experts delivered straight to your inbox.
Subscribe
Get facts about taxes in your state and around the U.S.
The State Tax Competitiveness Index enables policymakers, taxpayers, and business leaders to gauge how their states’ tax systems compare. While there are many ways to show how much state governments collect in taxes, the Index evaluates how well states structure their tax systems and provides a road map for improvement.
115 min read
Facts & Figures serves as a one-stop state tax data resource that compares all 50 states on over 40 measures of tax rates, collections, burdens, and more.
2 min read
Tax burdens rose across the country as pandemic-era economic changes caused taxable income, activities, and property values to rise faster than net national product. Tax burdens in 2020, 2021, and 2022 are all higher than in any other year since 1978.
24 min read
Individual income taxes are a major source of state government revenue, accounting for more than a third of state tax collections. How do income taxes compare in your state?
8 min read
Graduated corporate rates are inequitable—that is, the size of a corporation bears no necessary relation to the income levels of the owners.
7 min read
Retail sales taxes are an essential part of most states’ revenue toolkits, responsible for 32 percent of state tax collections and 13 percent of local tax collections (24 percent of combined collections).
9 min read
Sports stadium subsidies are salient political gimmicks designed to appear as if politicians are providing tangible benefits to taxpayers. The empirical evidence shows repeatedly that stadium subsidies fail to generate new tax revenue and new jobs or attract new businesses.
6 min read
Raising the combined US corporate rate to the second highest in the OECD would encourage corporations to depart from the US, reducing economic output and worker wages across the income spectrum.
2 min read
Many states regulate and tax legal marijuana sales and consumption, despite the ongoing federal prohibition. Explore the data here.
6 min read
High property taxes levied not only on land but also on buildings and structures can discourage investment in infrastructure, which businesses would have to pay additional tax on.
3 min read
Wireless taxes and fees set a new record high in 2024.
23 min read
Legal sports betting has grown rapidly since the Supreme Court granted states the ability to establish online sports betting markets in Murphy vs. NCAA in 2018.
3 min read
Taxes are on the ballot this November—not just in the sense that candidates at all levels are offering their visions for tax policy, but also in the literal sense that voters in some states will get to decide important questions about how their states raise revenue.
9 min read
The latest IRS and Census data show that people and businesses favor states with low and structurally sound tax systems, which can impact the state’s economic growth and governmental coffers.
8 min read
States would do better to broaden the sales tax base to include currently exempt classes of final consumption than to impose disproportionate taxes on prepared foods.
6 min read
While many factors influence business location and investment decisions, sales taxes are something within policymakers’ control that can have immediate impacts—especially as a large number of major cities have combined rates of 9 percent or more.
6 min read