States See Surge in Revenue

Watch them run deficits anyway

State tax revenue reached record highs last fiscal year, just years removed from the depths of the Great Recession, which ravaged state budgets and drove down revenues across the board in many states.

States collected nearly $800 billion in the 2012 fiscal year, according to Census data released Thursday. The dollar figure is not adjusted for inflation, but nonetheless shows a drastic jump in collections from 2010 when states collected just $703 billion, the lowest level since 2005.

Several individual states saw significant jumps. Illinois, for example, saw income tax collections increase nearly 40 percent. Hawaii saw a nearly 24 percent increase. Oregon and North Dakota received 20 percent more revenue from motor fuel taxes. Other sizable increases were in large part because of natural resource revenue. North Dakota, for example, saw a 47 percent increase and Alaska, a 27 percent increase overall.

Nearly every state reported a revenue increase in 2012 compared to the previous year. Eight states saw revenue increases of greater than 10 percent last year when compared to 2011.