FreeLook BookStore

Some Skinny on (shudder) our taxes

                    The tabulations from the 2000 Annual Survey of State Tax Collections show tax collections by category and population and per capita taxes collected for every state.
        Unlike last year, no state showed a decrease in total tax revenue. States with the largest percentage increases in total tax collections were: New Hampshire (up 58 percent because of the enactment of several new tax laws), Alaska (up 57 percent because of the effect of oil price increases that raised severance taxes), Wyoming (up 19 percent) and California (up 16 percent).
        State governments' reliance on specific taxes varied considerably. Several states obtained most of their tax revenue from individual income and general sales taxes. Georgia led this group with 81 percent, followed by Massachusetts, Hawaii and Colorado (78 percent each) and Utah (77 percent).
        Seven states where individual income and general sales taxes accounted for less than 50 percent of state government taxes included North Dakota (45 percent), Vermont (44 percent), Wyoming (38 percent), Montana (37 percent), Delaware (34 percent), New Hampshire (4 percent) and Alaska, which does not impose either tax.
        Nationally, per capita taxes collected by states averaged $1,922 for every man, woman and child, but the range varied among individual states varied widely. For example, per capita taxes were highest in Connecticut ($2,987), Delaware ($2,871), Hawaii ($2,752), Minnesota ($2,711) and Massachusetts ($2,544). The lowest per capita state taxes were in New Hampshire ($1,372), Tennessee ($1,360), Texas ($1,315) and South Dakota ($1,228).