State-government tax collections hit nearly $795B in FY 2012, NY ranks 2nd

Total state-government tax collections in the U.S. increased 4.5 percent to a record $795 billion in the 2012 fiscal year compared to 2011, the Census Bureau reported today.

The previous high for state tax collections totaled $780 billion in 2008, before the onset of the global financial crisis.

New York state collected more than $71.5 billion in total taxes in fiscal-year 2012, second only to California’s $112 billion.

The Empire State brought in almost $39 billion in individual income taxes in 2012, up 7.1 percent from the year before, according to the Census data. The state also amassed nearly $12 billion in general sales and gross-receipts taxes last fiscal year, up 2.8 percent from the 2011 fiscal year.

For the U.S. as a whole, overall state tax revenue on individual income totaled more than $280 billion for 2012, up 8.1 percent from 2011, while general sales tax revenue totaled almost $243 billion for 2012, up 2.9 percent from 2011, the Census Bureau reported.

“The latest data show that state tax revenue is continuing to recover, albeit slowly, from the depth of the recession,” Donald Boyd, a senior fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the University at Albany, said in a news release.

Forty-seven states generated an increase in total tax revenue in fiscal year 2012, led by North Dakota (47 percent), Alaska (27.3 percent), Illinois (19.1 percent), and Connecticut (15 percent), the Census Bureau reported.

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com