Verenda Smith says Kentucky, Louisiana and Arkansas are in the Southeast, but not West Virginia.

The interim director of the Federation of Tax Administrators says she would use climate, history and economy to define the region. She says Southeastern states have muggy weather, often border the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean and were in the Confederacy.

That last quality would eliminate Kentucky, which did not secede, but Smith argued as a native of the state that it was divided by the Civil War. She would include Louisiana and Arkansas because of their warmer climates and Confederate membership.

"West Virginia is harder because they are geographically different from the rest of the Southeast, up there with Pennsylvania and Ohio," she said. "They don't have the growing seasons and the cotton, and they were on the Union side."

Still, Smith said it's an academic exercise.

"The question has no single answer," she said.

The Tax Foundation measures tax burden by its own formula.

Although the U.S. Census Bureau and the Federation of Tax Administrators both compare taxation rates in states, the foundation's rankings are slightly different.

Unlike the Census Bureau, it measures the actual tax collections and not just the state rates. That allows it to account for the differing levels of local property and sales taxes:

For example, New York's state sales tax rate is 4 percent, and its counties have local sales tax rates that range from 3 percent to 5.75 percent. Connecticut, on the other had, has a 6 percent state-level sales tax with no local add-ons. In a ranking that includes only state-level taxes, New York appears less taxed than it actually is, and Connecticut appears more taxed.

The Tax Foundation also calculates how much in taxes were paid in other states, such as a candy bar you bought at a 7-Eleven across the border.

The total local and state tax burden is the total taxes collected divided by the total income.

North Carolina has the fourth-highest state beer tax in the U.S.

The state's current 53-cent per gallon excise tax on beer — which amounts to roughly 5 cents per 12-ounce can — is lower only than Alaska, Hawaii and South Carolina's state tax rates, according to research by the Federation of Tax Administrators.

The lowest state beer tax rate is 2 cents per gallon in Wyoming. The highest is Alaska, at $1.07 per gallon. In addition, some states also have local beer taxes, wholesale taxes and taxes on beers sold on tap, at private clubs and in bars.

North Carolina is currently the second-highest among its neighboring states. South Carolina charges 77 cents per gallon; Georgia, 32 cents; Virginia, 26 cents; and Tennessee, 14 cents.

(Georgia has an additional 53-cent local tax; Tennessee also levies a 17 percent wholesale tax.)

The median state beer tax for the 50 states and the District of Columbia is 18.8 cents per gallon, roughly what residents of Connecticut and Illinois pay. The average is 25.4 cents.

At a press conference today, Gov. Mike Easley proposed raising the state beer tax four cents a can, or from 53.177 cents per gallon to 95.719 cents per gallon.

That would make North Carolina's beer tax the second-highest state-levied tax in the country.

North Carolina has the seventh-lowest cigarette tax in the U.S.

The state's current 35-cent per pack excise tax on cigarettes is higher only than six other states, including border states of South Carolina and Virginia, as of Jan. 1, 2008, according to research by the Federation of Tax Administrators.

South Carolina's seven-cent rate is the lowest in the country, while Virginia's is closer, at 30 cents. Georgia levies 37 cents per pack; Tennessee, 62 cents.

The highest rate is New Jersey, at $2.57 and a half-cent per pack. The national median is $1 a pack, the rate in the District of Columbia, while the average for all 50 states and D.C. is $1.11.

In next year's budget, Gov. Mike Easley proposed raising the cigarette tax from 35 to 55 cents per pack to pay for public school teacher raises that would average 7 percent.

At 55 cents, North Carolina would be tied with West Virginia for the 12th-lowest cigarette tax in the country.