Estate and Inheritance Taxes by State, 2024
In addition to the federal estate tax, with a top rate of 40 percent, 12 states and DC impose additional estate taxes, while six states levy inheritance taxes.
7 min readMississippi‘s tax system ranks 27th overall on the 2025 State Tax Competitiveness Index. Mississippi, which ranks near the middle of the pack on the Index, benefits from a low, flat individual income tax rate and a relatively low corporate income tax rate. However, Mississippi’s throwback rule exposes in-state firms to higher Mississippi tax liability when they sell tangible property into states with which they do not have nexus. Additionally, Mississippi maintains a graduated-rate corporate income tax despite moving to a single-rate individual income tax in 2023.
While Mississippi’s statewide sales tax rate is among the highest in the country, low reliance on local sales taxes yields a combined state and average local rate that sits near the middle of the pack.
Notably, as part of a series of recent pro-growth reforms, in 2023, Mississippi joined Oklahoma to become the second state in the country to enact permanent full expensing for machinery and equipment investments, thereby increasing the marginal attractiveness of Mississippi for firms that invest in large amounts of capital. Additionally, Mississippi’s capital stock tax is scheduled to phase out by 2028, which will further improve the state’s ability to attract business investment.
While Mississippi’s property taxes are relatively low, its taxation of tangible personal property, including business inventory, as well as intangible property, penalizes in-state investment and hurts the state’s property tax component score.
Category | Rank | Rank Change | Score |
---|---|---|---|
Overall | 27 | -2 | 5.09 |
Corporate Taxes | 6 | 0 | 5.78 |
Individual Income Taxes | 32 | 0 | 5.06 |
Sales Taxes | 25 | -1 | 4.77 |
Property Taxes | 38 | -3 | 4.33 |
Unemployment Insurance Taxes | 15 | 3 | 5.54 |
In addition to the federal estate tax, with a top rate of 40 percent, 12 states and DC impose additional estate taxes, while six states levy inheritance taxes.
7 min readOver 500 million premium cigars were sold in the United States in 2023. With each sale comes a complex tax landscape.
4 min readPolicymakers can and should address taxpayers’ legitimate grievances about out-of-control property tax bills, but they should do so without upending a system of taxation that is more efficient, fair, and pro-growth, and better suited to municipal finance, than any of the alternatives.
39 min read