Tax Revenue Up for State and Local Governments

As states and municipalities around the country are struggling to make their budgets work without laying off workers or drastically reducing services, there’s some encouraging news on the revenue front. According to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau, tax revenue for state and local governments was up in the fourth quarter of 2009, the first sign of positive growth in five quarters.

Total tax revenue for the quarter was $360.1 billion, up 0.76% from the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue from property taxes (+5.8%) and corporate income taxes (+3.4%) rose while general sales (-2.8%) and individual income tax (-4.7%) continued to decline, although to a lesser degree than in the previous four quarters.