State government tax collections set record

Overall state government tax collections increased $34.3 billion from fiscal year 2011 to a record $794.6 billion in 2012, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The previous high for overall state tax collections was $779.7 billion in 2008. State tax revenue is up 13 percent from $703.4 billion in 2010, which was the lowest collected total since 2005. Note: State tax figures are represented as current whole dollars and are not adjusted for inflation.

Overall state tax revenue on individual income was at $280.4 billion for 2012, up 8.1 percent from 2011, while general sales tax revenue was at $242.7 billion for 2012, up 2.9 percent from 2011. License tax revenue increased to $54.0 billion for 2012, up 4.7 percent from 2011. Individual income tax revenue, general sales tax revenue and license tax revenue comprised 72.6 percent of all state government tax collections nationally.

“The Census Bureau’s state government tax collections data are an essential benchmark of state fiscal conditions,” said Donald Boyd, a senior fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York in Albany. “The latest data show that state tax revenue is continuing to recover, albeit slowly, from the depth of the recession.”

Forty-seven states saw an increase in total tax revenue in fiscal year 2012, led by North Dakota (47.0 percent), Alaska (27.3 percent), Illinois (19.1 percent) and Connecticut (15.0 percent).

California, New York and Texas led all states in total state taxes collected in 2012. View a ranking of all states in total state taxes collected.