“Sin taxes” are often viewed as budget saviors, though they play a rather small role in state budgets. Although states raise revenue from sin taxes, policymakers should be mindful of these taxes’ limitations. Absent policy changes (such as increased tax rates), long-term growth for sin tax...

State government tax revenues from major sources declined in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared with the same quarter in 2017, mostly because of declines in state income tax revenues. The declines in income tax collection are partially attributable to the disappearing impact of incentives...

Total state tax revenue from all sources showed strong growth in the last three quarters of 2018. States collected slightly over $1 trillion in tax revenues in fiscal year 2018, a gain of 7.8 percent over 2017. But the revenue growth was uneven among the states and across revenue sources. Much...