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State Fiscal Crisis Gets Uglier
Christmas or Hanukkah for state coffers usually comes in April as taxpayers rush to meet the deadline for filing personal tax returns. Unfortunately, according to the latest survey released by the National Conference of State Legislatures this week, State Fiscal Update-June 2002, states collected $8.6 billion less in individual tax collections this April than a year ago. Much of the drop — 21 percent overall — came in final income tax payments, which fell nearly 29 percent compared to last year.
Data collected by the survey reveals that immediate relief is not forthcoming. Estimated tax payments, considered to be a harbinger of expected receipts in the year ahead, are running nearly 27 percent behind the first four months of 2001.
Only three states, Arizona, Vermont and West Virginia, reported increases in estimated payments.
A state-by-state breakdown of individual income tax receipts was compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Federation of Tax Administrators, the National Association of State Budget Officers and the Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York at Albany.
The full report, State Fiscal Update-June 2002, is available at: http://www.ncsl.org/programs/fiscal/sfo2002.pdf