The Nation : States’ Tax Revenue Increased 7% in ’88

Taxpayers paid 7% more in state taxes in fiscal 1988 than they did in the previous year, the government reported. The Commerce Department reported that state tax revenues totaled $264 billion in the year ending June 30, 1988, compared to $246 billion in the previous fiscal year. California had the largest total state tax revenue, $36 billion, up 6% from the previous year. California taxes averaged $1,281 per capita, slightly over the national average of $1,077. The other large state tax revenues in fiscal 1988 were: New York, $26 billion; Texas, $13 billion; Pennsylvania, $12 billion; Illinois, Michigan and Florida, $11 billion each; and Ohio, $10 billion. Tax collections in these eight states totaled nearly half of the taxes collected nationally.