Revenues from state and local individual income taxes, general sales and gross receipt taxes, motor fuel taxes, motor vehicle taxes and taxes on alcoholic beverages each hit all-time highs in the second quarter of this year, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.
That means that in no quarter of any year since the Census Bureau first started tracking state and local tax revenues in 1962 have Americans paid more in each of these categories of state and local taxes then they did in the quarter that ran from April through June of 2013.
Americans paid a record of $114.032 billion in state and local individual income taxes in the second quarter of this year, according to the Census Bureau. That was up $7.787 billion—or 7.3 percent—from the previous all-time record of $106.245 billion in state and local individual income taxes that Americans paid in the second quarter of 2008.
Americans also paid a record of $82.212 billion in state and local general sales and gross receipts taxes in the second quarter of this year. That was up $1.85 billion—or 2.3 percent—from the previous record of $80.362 billion in general sales and gross receipts taxes American paid in the second quarter of 2008.
Americans paid a record of $11.254 billion in state and local motor fuels taxes in the second quarter of 2013. That was up $135 million—or 1.2 percent—from the previous record of $11.119 billion paid in the second quarter of 2012.
Americans paid a record $7.945 billion in state and local motor vehicles taxes in the second quarter of 2013. That was up $43 million—or 0.5 percent—from the previous record of $7.902 billion paid in the second quarter of 2012.
Americans paid a record of $1.827 billion in state and local alcoholic beverage taxes in the second quarter of 2013. That was up $25 million—or 1.4 percent—from the previous record of $1.802 billion paid in the second quarter of 2012.
Overall state and local tax revenues also hit a second-quarter record of $382.238 billion in 2013—with overall state tax revenues during the quarter exceeding those of any previous second quarter since 1962.
However, the second quarter of 2013 ranked only as the third highest ever for overall state and local tax revenues. The highest ever total state and local tax revenues for any quarter was the fourth quarter of last year, when state and local governments took in $398.510 billion in total taxes. The second highest total ever for state and local tax revenue was the $386.260 that state and local governments brought in during the fourth quarter of 2011.
Typically, according to the Census Bureau data, state and local tax revenues peak during the fourth quarter of the year. Nonetheless, state and local government took in more total tax revenue in the second quarter of 2013 than they did in all previous fourth quarters except 2011 and 2012.
Although state and local individual income taxes, general sales and gross receipt taxes, motor fuel taxes, moter vehicle taxes and taxes on alcoholic beverages hit all-time records in the second quarter of this year, state and local corporate income taxes and tobacco taxes did not hit records in the second quarter.
State and local corporate income tax revenues were $20.163 billion in the second quarter. That was up $2.546 billion—or 14.5 percent–from $17.617 billion in state and local income taxes that corporations paid in the second quarter of 2012, but it was down $814 million—or 3.9 percent–$20.977 billion that corporations paid in state and local income taxes in the second quarter of 2007.
State and local tobacco tax revenues were $4.534 billion in the second quarter of this year. That was down $140 million—or about 3 percent—from the record $4.674 billion they hit in the second quarter of 2012.
State and local property taxes hit a second-quarter record of $91.889 billion this year. But property taxes ordinarily hit their yearly highs in the fourth quarter. The all-time record for property taxes was the $182.480 billion paid in the fourth quarter of 2009. The second highest quarter ever for state and local property taxes was the fourth quarter of 2012, when they hit $177.727.
In 2009, when property taxes hit the record $182.480 billion in the fourth quarter, second quarter property taxes were only $86.477 billion—or almost 6 percent less than this year’s second quarter total of $91.889 billion.
If the second quarter is an indicator, Americans are on now track to pay record state and local property taxes in the fourth quarter of this year.
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2 Responses
This article would be a waste of ink if it were printed with ink. The numbers reported, as well as the numbers not reported, utterly fail to give us any hint of why so many record highs in state and local tax revenue have been set. It could be because the economy is so strong (probably not), or it could be that these records are not records if they are reported on a per capita basis, as they have increased because of increases in population. It could also be that with cuts in federal spending on aid to states and localities, the state and local officials have failed to cut spending and have covered the deficiency with tax rate increases.
I don’t know why all these state and local tax revenues have gone up, but neither does anyone else who would be foolish enough to rely on this report.
Who is CNSNews.com, the source of this waste of ink?
And one other thing – in the picture accompanying the article, the sleeve of the person shaking money out of an upside-down taxpayer is colored in a way that suggests “Uncle Sam,” but the article is about state and local taxes, not federal taxes.