“[A] swap from income to sales taxation . . . in North Carolina . . . would require sales tax revenue to increase from 1.8 percent to 4.9 percent of state personal income. With the same sales tax base, North Carolina would have to raise its sales tax rate from 5.75 percent to 15.9 percent. With base broadening that would increase the implicit sales tax base to 50 percent of personal income, the rate would have to rise to 12 percent.” Martin A. Sullivan, http://taxprof.typepad.com/files/138tn0789.pdf.
I can’t vouch for those numbers, but I have no reason to doubt them. It remains hard to imagine the Legislature will adopt such a radical proposal.
The Center for New Revenue 