The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government issued a report detailing a 13.3 percent average increase in state tax revenues across the country. The report, "State Revenue Growth Continues in Most States," compared revenues from the second quarter of 2005 to the same period in 2004. The growth percentage was the fastest since 1991, when the public policy research arm of the State University of New York began tracking state revenues."The growth in overall collections from final settlements is generally stronger than states had anticipated," said senior policy analyst Nicholas Jenny, in a statement. "It's now getting back into the range of the growth in final settlements states experienced regularly from the mid-1990s through 2001. This favorable 'April surprise' has put many states in a budget surplus position."
The top five percentage increases were in Alaska (42.9 percent), Vermont (31 percent), New Jersey (28.3 percent), North Carolina (27.7 percent), and West Virginia (25.3 percent). Georgia, Washington, South Dakota and Maine all had increases of 2 percent or less. Increases in other major states included California (17.3 percent), Florida (9.1 percent), Illinois (10.2 percent), New York (17 percent), Ohio (9 percent) and Pennsylvania (6.7 percent).
All three major tax sources grew in the quarter. State corporate income tax revenues had the biggest increase, rising 22.8 percent, while personal income tax revenues rose 18.4 percent and sales tax revenues increased 7.9 percent. A survey of state collections in April indicates that final personal income tax payments with returns increased 29.3 percent from the same time last year.
Other findings of the report included:
* Final personal income tax payments with returns were up 29.3 percent;
* Revenue growth was strongest in the Mid-Atlantic region (16 percent) and weakest in the Great Lakes and Southwest regions (9.1 percent); and,
* National employment growth was 1.6 percent in the quarter, with the strongest growth in the western and southern regions.
A copy of the full report is available on the institute's Web site, at www.rockinst.org.
