Census reports state tax collections plummet

State government tax collections totaled $715.2 billion in fiscal year 2009, a $66.9 billion (8.6 percent) decrease from 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

According to data from the 2009 Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections, taxes on individual income were $245.9 billion, down 11.8 percent, while general sales taxes were $228.1 billion, down 5.4 percent. Corporate net income taxes were $40.3 billion, down 20.7 percent. These taxes made up 71.9 percent of all state government tax collections nationally.

“The 2009 state tax collection data is the first component of government finance data released each fiscal year and provides an important indicator of the fiscal condition of state governments,” said Lisa Blumerman, chief of the Census Bureau’s Governments Division.

Severance taxes – imposed for removal of natural resources (e.g., oil, gas, coal, timber, fish, etc.) – were down $4.8 billion in 2009, a 26.5 percent decrease. This followed a 65.2 percent increase in fiscal year 2008. The largest decreases in severance taxes were seen in the South and the West.

The decline of revenue from mortgages, deeds or securities (documentary and stock transfer taxes) resulted in a $2.8 billion loss, a 36.0 percent decrease, with the largest decrease in the South.

States with the largest percent decrease in revenue from individual income taxes were Arizona (42.5 percent), South Carolina (29.6 percent), Tennessee (23.8 percent) and New Mexico (23.2 percent).

States with the largest percent decrease in revenue from corporate net income tax were Michigan (63.5 percent), Oregon (45.8 percent), New Mexico (42.6 percent) and Utah (37.7 percent).

In Mississippi, the Census Brueau reports Mississippi collected approximately $6.514 billion in 2009. It collected approximately $3.03 billion in total general sales tax, approximately $1.49 billion in individual income tax, $324,301 in corporation net income tax and approximately $1.68 billion in all other taxes.