Tax Receipts Rebound in U.S. as 15 Biggest States Forecast 4% Gain in 2011

[Purveyor]

By Dunstan McNichol

March 30 (Bloomberg) -- The two-year slide in tax collections that opened a $196 billion gap in U.S. state budgets has stopped, easing pressure on credit ratings and giving leeway to lawmakers as they craft spending plans for next year.

The 15 largest states by population forecast a 3.9 percent gain in tax revenue in fiscal 2011, budget documents show. The 50 states on average may increase collections by about 3.5 percent, the first time in two years the figure is expected to grow, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com,

California took in 3.9 percent more since December than projected in January, Controller John Chiang said this month. New York got $129 million above forecasts in its budget year through February, according to a report from Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. In New Jersey, the second-wealthiest state per capita, January sales-tax collections were 1.9 percent higher than a year earlier, the first annual increase in 19 months, forecasters said in a report last month.

“This time last year, we were sliding down a mountain,” said David Rosen, chief budget officer for the New Jersey Legislature. “I don’t think we are now; it’s stabilized.”

States collected about $79 billion less in sales, income and corporate taxes in 2009 than in 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau said today in a report, as the economy struggled through its deepest slump since the Great Depression. Emergency spending cuts and tax increases became routine during the recession that began in December 2007.

MORE...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2uOm.T_YrmU&pos=5

[Johonny]

1. Waiting for TV ad where Meg Whitman claims

her policies are already working

[4lbs]

2. This comment from New Jersey is interesting:

<snip>
In New Jersey, the second-wealthiest state per capita, January sales-tax collections were 1.9 percent higher than a year earlier, the first annual increase in 19 months, forecasters said in a report last month.

“This time last year, we were sliding down a mountain,” said David Rosen, chief budget officer for the New Jersey Legislature. “I don’t think we are now; it’s stabilized.”
<snip>


So, now, maybe they can stop with that $820 million education cut and hire back those teachers.

Well, NJ does have a Repuke for Governor, so, instead he'll give another tax cut to the wealthiest 2 percent of the state.

[Lance_Boyle]

4. Just wait 'til that tanning salon tax kicks in

The Golden Guido state will be ROLLING in cash.

[4lbs]

5. The cast of "Jersey Shore" must be going TeaBagger about that tanning tax.

;)

[notadmblnd]

3. The banks have to pay the property taxes of all those empty homes they now own

It's either that, or lose the property to the municipality.

[Zynx]

6. I've been tracking state revenues all around the country at my job for 18 months.

In fact, revenues are stabilizing and beginning to recover in an uneven fashion. Corporate income tax receipts in particular are beginning to bounce back, though that is not consistent across states. It will take a long time to totally undo the damage done to state governments, however.