A working definition of the Southeast

We've arrived at something of a definition of the "Southeast."

Lew Powell argued the term was a Yankee invention, which John Shelton Reed backed up. The Census Bureau was no help, giving us "East South Central" and "South Atlantic" regions that might be useful if they didn't stupidly include Delaware and Maryland.

College football pushed for the inclusion of Louisiana and Arkansas, as did the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Neither liked oddball West Virginia but Kentucky didn't fit anywhere else either and it was generally accepted.

Even Wikipedia found 15 different lists. 

One reader suggested "The Confederate states minus Texas" which agrees with most of the other lists, but does not include either Kentucky or West Virginia. 

Dome sees basically two definitions: 

Lesser Southeast: The former Confederate states east of the Mississippi: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Add Kentucky because aside from the Cincinnati suburbs it wouldn't fit in the North.

Greater Southeast: All those states plus the three borderline cases of West Virginia, Arkansas and Louisiana. 

Here's the rub. The states that have high tax burdens along with North Carolina are West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Kentucky.

So the "highest taxes in the Southeast" claim is going to depend entirely on whether you accept the broader or narrower definition of the region.