Income taxes No. 1 source
Combined corporate and personal income taxes surpassed general sales taxes as the most important source of state tax dollars for the seventh straight year in fiscal 1979, Commerce Clearing House reports.
Income taxes provided the most revenue in 29 states and the District of Columbia, while sales taxes proved to be the best source of revenue in the other 21.
State tax collections in all 50 states totaled $125.1 billion, an increase of 10.5 percent from the $113.3 billion collected in fiscal 1978, according to the report of the latest Census Bureau data. Income tax collections totaled $44.9 billion while general sales and gross receipts levies, the second largest source of tax revenue, provided states with $39.5 billion.
Nationally, increases in state government tax revenue were noted in every category of tax except tobacco products levies which dropped 0.4 percent.