How NORTH CAROLINA Taxes Retirees

North Carolina has a flat tax of 5.49% and basically everything is subject to taxation, except for Social Security.   If you are retiring to North Carolina you should be doing some proactive tax planning indeed. Roth IRAs and Social Security maximization strategies should be your first order to business. State and local sales tax puts North Carolina smack dab in the middle of the rest of the nation. Not low, but not high either.  Groceries are not taxed by the state but can be by the localities.  Property taxes are pretty low. Only the 30th highest property tax in terms of percentage but because median house value is pretty low te actual dollar amount citizens pay in property tax put the state in the top 10 for lowest burden.