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.
Sathyanarayanan (Sathya) Sethuraman is the director of UiPath’s global insurance and financial services practice. With more than 20 years’ experience, Sathya has become a trusted advisor to Fortune 100 global insurance and financial services enterprises and has led large-scale digital transformation initiatives. At UiPath, Sathya is responsible for building industry solutions for intelligent process automation leveraging UiPath’s platform and the UiPath alliance ecosystem.
Michael Sellai is a partner in BPM’s Managed IT Services practice, where he helps clients manage, maintain and upgrade their information technology systems. In his nearly 20 years of IT experience, he has among other notable projects helped clients with as many as 300 employees automate the onboarding of employee computers and application delivery.
Jill Pappenheimer is a partner in the HR Consulting practice at BPM, a West Coast-based accountant and advisory firm that ranks among the 50 largest in the United States. She brings 30 years of experience supporting the people function for organizations ranging from large financial institutions to small entrepreneurial teams.
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.