U.S. states saw their tax revenue drop by about $31 billion, or 6 percent, from March through August, compared to the same period a year earlier, as the pandemic triggered economic shutdowns across the country, according to data from 44 states compiled by the Urban Institute.
The scale of the drop appears smaller than expected, relative to the depth of the economic contraction, and comes after several states have reported that their revenue didn’t decline as much as anticipated despite business shutdowns and increased unemployment. In August, when much of the country was reopening, state revenue climbed about 1.1 percent from a year earlier, the Urban Institute found.
Lilia is SVP of Product Management for the Property & Casualty and Reinsurance division at Sapiens International. With close to 25 years at IDIT/Sapiens, she has shaped the product direction of one of the insurance industry's most established core platforms — from policy administration and claims through to digital transformation and AI-driven automation.
Hadas Tobolski is Senior Vice President of R&D, P&C Products at Sapiens International, where she leads a broad engineering organization spanning multiple insurance software product lines. With a career built across insurance tech, fintech and banking—she brings deep expertise in scaling R&D organizations, driving AI-led innovation, and turning complex technical challenges into real business impact.
Allie Szczepaniak is the COO of Solidarity Health Network, a Cleveland-based third-party administrator 9TPA) and benefits consultant that manages employer-sponsored health plans, focusing on services like benefit administration, billing and claims processing for unions, public employers and corporations.
The tax figures come as Republicans in Washington balk at extending aid to states and cities to help cover budget deficits that are expected to continue as the coronavirus weighs on the economy. Experts say that states’ financial outlooks could worsen as the effects of the stimulus bill fade and high unemployment reduces tax bills next year.
The August increase should be viewed with caution since income-tax deadlines were pushed back to July, which could have resulted in some revenue being processed later, according to Lucy Dadayan, senior research associate with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Personal income-tax collections, which rose 3.8 percent in August, were in some cases supported by backlogged unemployment insurance benefits subject to withholding tax, Dadayan said.
Between March and August, tax revenues fell 6.4 percent year over year, with 36 states reporting declines over that period, the report said. Between March and August, eight states, including Washington and Georgia, reported growth in tax revenue.
“Due to the shifting in timing of tax receipts this past year, it is crucial to view August year-over-year revenue gains and fiscal year to date data with caution,” Dadayan said in the report.