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State Tax Collections Rise 9 Percent

1 min readBy: Joseph Bishop-Henchman

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The U.S. Census Bureau today released their data on state tax collections for the year ending June 30, 2011. Compared to the previous year, each state saw taxA tax is a mandatory payment or charge collected by local, state, and national governments from individuals or businesses to cover the costs of general government services, goods, and activities. revenue rise, by amounts varying between 0.4 percent (Hawaii) and 44.5 percent (North Dakota). See the full table below for your state.

Overall state tax collections rose 8.9 percent, with different taxes rising by different amounts: income taxes (9.8 percent), sales taxA sales tax is levied on retail sales of goods and services and, ideally, should apply to all final consumption with few exemptions. Many governments exempt goods like groceries; base broadening, such as including groceries, could keep rates lower. A sales tax should exempt business-to-business transactions which, when taxed, cause tax pyramiding. es (8.3 percent), excise taxes (9.4 percent), and license taxes (2.8 percent). Property taxA property tax is primarily levied on immovable property like land and buildings, as well as on tangible personal property that is movable, like vehicles and equipment. Property taxes are the single largest source of state and local revenue in the U.S. and help fund schools, roads, police, and other services. es dropped 2.3 percent. The total state tax take of $764 billion is second highest only to the bubble peak of $781 billion in 2008. Even accounting for this drop, as the chart above shows, state taxes have grown at a healthy 4 percent annual rate since 1997.

The trends are what you would expect during an economic recovery. Individual income and sales taxes are rising rapidly as income and consumer spending rise, while property tax collections drop as assessments catch up with depressed valuations from the housing crash.

Our review of this data last year is here.

State 2010 Tax Collections ($000) 2011 Tax Collections ($000) Change Rank
United States 701,555,688 763,669,347 8.9%
North Dakota 2,645,695 3,822,347 44.5% 1
Alaska 4,522,927 5,537,679 22.4% 2
California 104,840,520 123,109,886 17.4% 3
Illinois 25,529,673 29,433,475 15.3% 4
New Mexico 4,327,815 4,980,115 15.1% 5
Wyoming 2,158,260 2,461,977 14.1% 6
Idaho 2,951,703 3,261,722 10.5% 7
Colorado 8,575,262 9,467,684 10.4% 8
Minnesota 17,208,877 18,952,919 10.1% 9
Massachusetts 20,090,563 22,089,530 9.9% 10
Oklahoma 7,078,272 7,766,332 9.7% 11
Texas 39,399,251 43,188,251 9.6% 12
Delaware 2,763,032 3,017,837 9.2% 13
Connecticut 12,303,185 13,432,252 9.2% 14
Nebraska 3,809,266 4,153,113 9.0% 15
Oregon 7,475,135 8,112,049 8.5% 16
Nevada 5,835,963 6,332,128 8.5% 17
Georgia 14,782,779 16,003,250 8.3% 18
Washington 16,106,154 17,411,033 8.1% 19
Indiana 13,796,427 14,909,416 8.1% 20
West Virginia 4,771,978 5,142,771 7.8% 21
Utah 5,092,415 5,475,904 7.5% 22
Montana 2,142,809 2,303,516 7.5% 23
Pennsylvania 30,169,122 32,352,286 7.2% 24
Mississippi 6,268,823 6,714,180 7.1% 25
Vermont 2,511,387 2,687,926 7.0% 26
Kentucky 9,538,956 10,203,241 7.0% 27
Wisconsin 14,368,569 15,347,327 6.8% 28
Ohio 23,583,596 25,176,562 6.8% 29
Rhode Island 2,568,851 2,737,952 6.6% 30
New York 63,807,610 67,945,152 6.5% 31
Arizona 10,187,690 10,848,179 6.5% 32
Arkansas 7,279,215 7,737,552 6.3% 33
Iowa 6,809,344 7,236,476 6.3% 34
Virginia 16,411,055 17,409,072 6.1% 35
Maine 3,489,953 3,675,810 5.3% 36
Kansas 6,492,996 6,828,477 5.2% 37
South Carolina 7,312,534 7,687,496 5.1% 38
Maryland 15,223,923 16,002,529 5.1% 39
New Jersey 25,927,891 27,182,753 4.8% 40
South Dakota 1,321,228 1,379,607 4.4% 41
Missouri 9,703,459 10,109,918 4.2% 42
North Carolina 21,517,288 22,405,841 4.1% 43
Michigan 22,626,247 23,540,253 4.0% 44
New Hampshire 2,234,304 2,320,014 3.8% 45
Florida 31,486,598 32,557,946 3.4% 46
Tennessee 10,513,788 10,858,935 3.3% 47
Alabama 8,396,805 8,635,527 2.8% 48
Louisiana 8,758,633 8,865,421 1.2% 49
Hawaii 4,837,862 4,857,729 0.4% 50
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