States' Quarterly Tax Revenue Plunges 17%

State tax revenue in the second quarter plunged 17% from a year earlier, according to Census Bureau.

It was the sharpest decline since at least the 1960s. The biggest drop was in state income taxes, which were down 28% in the second quarter from a year earlier.

Some of the sharpest tax declines were in states that have been among the hardest-hit by the recession, in particular those with high concentrations of jobs in the battered housing sector. In Arizona, overall tax revenue fell 27% in the second quarter from a year ago. Tax revenue fell 12% in Florida and 14% in California.