Thursday, May 14, 2009

Report: Tax Collections Down In Nearly Every State

From BusinessWeek.com:

Tax collections continued to drop in almost every state during the first quarter of 2009, off an average 13 percent from a year earlier as the recession and wary consumers cut into income and sales tax revenue.

The Rockefeller Institute of Government's latest report shows a nearly 16 percent average decline in personal income taxes. That's the steepest drop since 2002.

An institute analyst says tax revenue is expected to decline further in the quarter ending in June, which will include April income tax returns hit hard by financial market declines in 2008.

The report released Wednesday says corporate income taxes fell 16 percent and sales taxes were off almost 8 percent. It was the second quarter in a row with income, sales and corporate tax collections all dropping.