WICS Live: Around the States

State Tax Revenues at Record Low, Report Finds. A recent report bythe Rockefeller Institute of Government found that the lackluster economy decimated state tax collections during the first quarter of the year. The drop in state revenues was the steepest in the 46 years that data is available. State coffers fared no better in the second quarter, and suggests that many states will have to resort to move spending cuts or tax increases to balance their budgets. Over all, the report found that state tax collections dropped 11.7 percent in the first quarter of 2009, compared with the same period last year. After adjusting for inflation and new changes, the report found that tax revenues had declined in 47 of the 50 states in the quarter. As bad as the first quarter was, the second quarter is shaping up to be even worse, the report said. Preliminary data for the first two months of the quarter, April and May, collected from 45 states, indicated that tax revenues declined by 20% compared with the same period last year.