The United States Census Bureau conducts an Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collection, as authorized by law under Title 13, United States Code, Section 182. The State Government Tax Collection files and tables contain annual statistics on the fiscal year tax collections of all 50 state governments in the United States. The statistics are for state governments only. They should not be interpreted as state area data (state plus local government tax collections combined).

This technical documentation contains information on the files and tables available for fiscal year 2008.

Contents

• Introduction
  1. Concepts and Terminology
  2. Current Dollars
  3. Fiscal Years
  4. Coverage
  5. Limitations of Data
  6. Sources of Data and Statistical Reliability
  7. Revisions to Prior Years
• File Descriptions
  1. Summary Tables
     
  2. Summary Table Spreadsheet
     
  3. Ranking Table
     
  4. Record Layouts
     
  5. Item Codes and Short Descriptions
     
  6. Totals and Sub-Totals in the Files
     

Concepts and Terminology

In this survey and for all Census Bureau surveys on state and local government tax collections, "taxes" are defined as all compulsory contributions exacted by a government for public purposes, except employer and employee assessments for retirement and social insurance purposes, which are classified as insurance trust revenue. Outside the scope of this report, accordingly, are collections for the unemployment compensation "taxes" imposed by each of the state governments and the District of Columbia. However, all receipts from licenses and compulsory fees, including those that are imposed for regulatory purposes, as well as those designated to provide revenue are included.

Tax revenue is further defined to include related penalty and interest receipts of a government, but to exclude protested amounts and refunds. The deduction from gross collections of amounts refunded is particularly significant with respect to motor fuel sales taxes ("gasoline" taxes) and individual income taxes.

The general nature of the several major kinds of taxes shown separately in this report is suggested by their headings. More detailed definitions are contained in the 2006 Government Finance and Employment Classification Manual, which can be found on the Governments Division Internet web site.

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Current Dollars

Most of the data in this report were gathered by a mail canvass of appropriate state government offices that are directly involved with state-administered taxes. There are approximately one hundred offices that are canvassed to collect data from all fifty states. Follow-up procedures include the use of mail, telephone and e-mail until data are received. Approximately 80 percent of the reporting units respond to data requests. For those reporting units that do not report, data are compiled by trained representatives of the Bureau of the Census from official state government records resulting in one hundred percent data coverage. In either case, the classification of taxes among the different categories shown here is entirely the responsibility of the Census Bureau, and might not reflect the actual classification or presentation used by the various state government respondents.

The statistics are subject to possible inaccuracies in classification, response, and processing. Every effort is made to keep such errors to a minimum through care in examining, editing, and tabulating the data.

The tax figures shown are net of refunds. They include amounts of State-imposed taxes collected or received by the state and subsequently distributed to local governments. Locally collected and retained tax amounts are not included in this survey.

The tax revenue data pertain to state fiscal years that end on June 30, 2008 in all but four states. Amounts shown for these four states reflect the different timing of their respective fiscal years, which were the 12-month periods ending on March 31, 2008 for New York, August 31, 2008 for Texas, and September 30, 2008 for Alabama and Michigan.

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Fiscal Years

The tax revenue data pertain to state fiscal years that end on June 30, 2008 in all but four states (NY, TX, AL, MI). Amounts shown for these four states reflect the different timing of their respective fiscal years, which were the 12-month periods ending on March 31, 2008 for New York, August 31, 2008 for Texas, and September 30, 2008 for Alabama and Michigan.

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Coverage

The state government tax data presented by the Census Bureau may differ from data published by state governments because the Census Bureau may be using a different definition of which organizations are covered under the term, “state government.”

For the purpose of State Government Tax Collections statistics, the term “state government” refers not only to the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of a given state, but it also includes agencies, institutions, commissions, and public authorities that operate separately or somewhat autonomously from the central state government but where the state government maintains administrative or fiscal control over their activities as defined by the Census Bureau.

For further information on the definition and organization of governments:

See Chapter 1 of the Government Finance and Employment Classification Manual and the 2007 Census of Governments.

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Limitations of Data

The tax figures shown are net of refunds. Refunds for taxes originally paid in either the current or prior fiscal years are deducted from gross collections in the same year refunded. The cost of collecting and administering taxes, however, is reported as an expenditure in the State Government Finance Statistics, not as an offset to taxes.

These data include amounts of State-imposed taxes collected or received by the state and subsequently distributed to local governments. Locally collected and retained tax amounts are not included in this survey.

For classification decisions involving the assignment of taxes, the Census Bureau typically examines three factors – imposition, collection, and retention (or distribution) of tax proceeds. The general rule is that tax collection amounts are assigned to the government controlling two of the three factors. In determining the assignment of taxes, the Census Bureau gives primary consideration to the government actually imposing the tax and usually credits that government with the tax collection. The government imposing a tax is the jurisdiction whose governing body adopts the legislation or ordinance specifying the type of tax, scope, and rate and requiring its payment. Generally, if another government collects a tax for the levying unit, then that government is considered to be acting as a collecting agent and is credited only with any amount it retains as reimbursement for administration or other costs. These guidelines apply to all taxes, whether levied under general municipal powers, charter powers, or specific state legislative authority.

The following examples are relevant.

The examples below illustrate the various types of arrangements and how they are handled in this classification scheme:

For further information on the Census Bureau’s treatment of tax statistics please consult Section 4.3.1 Taxes of the 2006 Government Finance and Employment Classification Manual.

Use caution in attempting to draw conclusions from direct comparisons of revenue amounts for individual state governments. Some states directly administer activities that elsewhere are undertaken by local governments, with or without state fiscal aid. The share of tax collections by state government, therefore, differs materially from one state to another.

Financial amounts presented are statistical in nature and do not represent an accounting statement.

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Sources of Data and Statistical Reliability

Most of the data in this report were gathered by a mail canvass of appropriate state government offices that are directly involved with state-administered taxes. There are approximately one hundred offices that are canvassed to collect data from all fifty states. Follow-up procedures include the use of mail, telephone, and e-mail until data are received. Approximately 80 percent of the reporting units respond directly to data requests. For those reporting units that do not report, data are compiled from official state government records. In either case, the classification of taxes among the different categories shown here is entirely the responsibility of the Census Bureau, and might not reflect the actual classification or presentation used by the various state government respondents.

State Government Tax Collections in this report result from a complete canvass of all state government agencies. Consequently, there is no associated measure of sampling error, such as the relative standard error. However, these statistics are subject to non-sampling error. Such error includes inaccuracies in classification, response, and processing. Every effort is made to keep such errors to a minimum through care in examining, editing, and tabulating the data.

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Revisions to Prior Years

The State Government Tax Collections Survey released data for the Fiscal Year 2008 on March 30, 2009. Users should note that this release may include revisions to two prior years data. Revisions will be noted by the change in “Last Revised” date located at the bottom of the viewable data State Summary Table and Ranking Table.

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Summary Tables

The viewable summary tables contain aggregated summary data for the U.S. and for each state. State Government Tax Collections data are available as viewable files, spreadsheets, and fixed format, ASCII text files.

Filenames:

Viewable Tables: yy##**stax.html
Spreadsheet: yystaxss.xls
ASCII Data File: yystaxcd.txt

Where:
yy=Year;  ##=State ID;  **=State Abbrev;  stax=State Tax;  ss=Spreadsheet;   cd=Comma Delimited

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Summary Table Spreadsheet File

The summary table spreadsheet is an MS Excel spreadsheet format of the above summary tables. There is an entry for each state, as well as a U.S. summary section.

Filename is yystaxss.xls (where yy represents the last two digits of the fiscal year)

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Ranking Table

For 2006 and later, the ranking table shows states ranked by total taxes. Prior to 2006, the ranking table also showed states ranked by per capita amount. The ranking tables should be interpreted with caution; analysis based on rankings or per capita statistics can be misleading and misinterpreted because of subtle yet important differences in state government organization and economic structure. For example, using total taxes or per capita taxes as a measure of tax burden on the citizens of that state can be misleading because different states use different approaches to taxation, comparing only the total taxes collected by each state is not enough to understand the economic impact of those states’ taxes – one must also understand how those taxes are collected. Comparing taxes across states can be difficult. The Census Bureau’s statistics on tax revenue reflect taxes a state collects from activity within the state, not necessarily from its people within a state. Alaska, for instance, does not have general sales taxes or individual income taxes, but it does collect severance taxes from companies that extract oil and natural gas. Like Alaska, Florida does not collect individual income taxes, instead Florida relies heavily on a general sales tax, which, because of its tourist industry, is partially supported by visitors from outside Florida. In that sense, both Alaska and Florida collect “exported taxes” – taxes from people or organizations that may reside outside of their state.

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Record Layouts

The files and tables contain nearly identical content. The data and amount of detail are identical. Variation among them pertains to the descriptions and or the format of the file. For the spreadsheet files, the records are self-explanatory, since they contain descriptive text within the spreadsheet. The same is true of the viewable tables, which can be downloaded as ASCII text files. Users can download these files and import them into any application.

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Item Codes and Short Descriptions

Below are the finance tax codes and population reference with their corresponding description. Further definitions for each code are found in the 2006 Government Finance and Employment Classification Manual which may be accessed from the Governments Division Internet web site.

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Totals and Sub-Totals in the Files

Many users want to manipulate the statistics in accordance with their own needs. When using the basic data flat file for this survey, it is useful to know how the item codes were tabulated to arrive at the totals and subtotals shown in the viewable tables on the website. The individual item codes that comprise these various aggregates are shown below. They apply to all survey years.

  Property Taxes
  Sales and Gross Receipts
  Licenses
  Income Taxes
  Other Taxes

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