States Continue Raising TaxesStates, struggling to contain huge budget deficits, raised taxes and fees by $23.9 billion and enacted $7.7 billion in other revenue-raising measures for FY 2010, according to a new report from the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO).
Among the slate of new net tax and fee increases:
– Personal Income Taxes: $10.7 billion- Sales Taxes: $6.1 billion- Fees: $5.3 billion- Other Taxes: $967.8 million- Cigarette, Tobacco and Alcohol Taxes: $908.1 million- Alcohol Taxes: $54.1 million- Motor Fuel Taxes: $42.3 million
NASBO executive director Scott Pattison said the new tax and fee increases represent the “highest tax increases ever,” and that, incredibly, Americans should expect further tax hikes in the near future.
This news is disturbing on a number of fronts. Americans already “pay more in taxes than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined,” face the second highest corporate tax rate in the world, and are under threat of massive federal tax increases tied to proposed climate change and health care legislation. Add to that even more taxes being collected at the state level, and one begins to wonder if anyone is looking out for the American taxpayer anymore.
– James Quintero