Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In addition to a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan-Flint, Perry is also a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
8 Comments:
"tax collections ... are showing strong improvements in the first quarter of this year"
why is an increase necessarily an improvement?
It's a sign of economic expansion and growth, in: a) indvidual income, b) corporate income, and c) retail sales.
Well if one is interested in state taxes, the amounts collected, and a comparison of the states consider the following site called IDEAS...
The first paragraph descriptor: 'Welcome to the IDEAS website, an online tool that helps people explore and compare tax rates across all states over time, as well as see how certain taxes impact everyday decisions. Within this website, you can create your own charts and tables, and you have access to a large comprehensive dataset that includes roughly 50 variables per state, over a span of decades'...
“Many states have announced higher-than-expected tax revenues lately, the first upbeat news to come out of beleaguered state budget offices since 2007. But the windfall is largely the result of smoke and mirrors. Revenue estimates for this year were set at ultra low levels, leaving plenty of room for good news. The reality is that state budget problems are the worst they’ve been since the start of the recession. State tax revenues are more than 10 percent below their 2008 levels, and 44 states and Washington DC have been scrambling to close a collective $112 billion budget shortfall for fiscal year 2012, which for most states begins July 1.”
Fiscal Times
h/t Instapundit
"State tax revenues are more than 10 percent below their 2008 levels"
this is the telling figure.
it's easy to show huge % gains after big drops.
but in comparison to the last healthy economy, even the higher tax rates are not getting you back to anywhere near the previous levels.
I wish I could remember the article and author but a couple months ago in the Daily Reckoning website someone wrote that the dumbest idea out there is increasing tax revenue means that the economy is recovering. What it really means, according to this person, is that states are finding more things to tax and increasing them.
It's a sign of economic expansion and growth, in: a) indvidual income, b) corporate income, and c) retail sales.
Could it be an increase in tax rates?
So do we now predict that California and the other states will be able to dig out of the holes that they find themselves in? If not this is entirely meaningless even if the data point may turn out to be meaningful after a few more data points come in.
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