State Tax Revenues Recover

by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York

06 April 2010

US state and local government tax revenues, which have been badly hit by the financial crisis and ensuing economic slowdown, recorded positive growth in the fourth quarter of 2009 for the first time in five quarters.

According to provisional figures released by the Census Bureau, which are continuously updated, individual income tax and general sales tax revenues continued to decline in the fourth quarter. However, these falls were more than compensated for by increases in corporate income tax and property tax revenues.

Overall, state and local governments collected USD360bn in taxes in the last quarter of 2009, 0.76% higher than the amount collected in the same quarter in 2008. Some USD170bn was collected in property taxes in the 4th quarter, 5.8% higher than a year earlier. Corporate income tax revenues were 3.5% higher than in 2008.

Personal income tax receipts fell by 4.7% in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared with the last quarter of 2008, while sales tax revenues fell by 2.8%, although this represents a significant improvement compared with the two preceding quarters when sales tax revenues fell by over 10%.

Total state and local tax revenues for the calender year 2009 remain lower, however, than the same period in 2008, at USD1.2 trillion, down 5.6%, according to the provisional Census Bureau data.

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