Alabama State Tax Collections, 2023
Increases, Decreases, and Trends in the Revenue Supporting State Government The 2023 fiscal year, which ended on September 30, was a mixed year for Alabama revenue collections. After several years of strong growth, Alabama tax collections turned in a mixed performance in 2023, with the General Fund (GF), which supports non-education spending, up substantially. Education […]
E-Commerce and Taxation: Questions of Efficiency and Equal Treatment
PARCA’s new report, titled E-Commerce and Taxation: Questions of Efficiency and Equal Treatment, questions whether changes are needed to the state’s Simplified Sellers Use Tax (SSUT). Executive Summary Alabama’s tax on online goods sold by out-of-state sellers, the Simplified Sellers Use Tax (SSUT), has been a boost to state budgets but a mixed blessing for […]
How Alabama Taxes Compare, 2022 Edition
PARCA’s How Alabama Taxes Compare, 2022 Edition, uses data published by the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of State and Local Finances to compare tax revenues across the state. This most recent set of revenue and expenditure data cover state and local fiscal years ending between July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, identified as […]
Another Banner Year in Alabama Tax Collections, but Inflation Will Take a Bite
Alabama tax collections grew at an eye-popping rate in the 2022 fiscal year, with particularly strong growth in income tax collections (up 27% over 2021) and online sales (up more than 20%). The strong collections produced surpluses in both primary state accounts, the Education Trust Fund (ETF) and the General Fund (GF). Printable PDF available […]
PARCA Report Highlights Challenges of Municipal Financial Comparison, Examines City Tax Collections
Our 2022 edition of How Alabama Cities Compare (the tenth edition of PARCA’s study of Alabama city finances) introduces a new methodology, highlights the challenges of comparing municipal finances, and proposes a better way to collect the information in a standardized way that should produce comparable data more quickly. After building consensus and adjusting existing […]
The Economic Impact of Expanding Medicaid in Alabama
Expanding Medicaid coverage in Alabama could save the state almost $400 million per year over the next six years – more than enough to cover the cost of expansion – and have an average positive economic impact of $1.89 billion per year over that same time frame. These findings are based on analysis conducted by […]
How Alabama Taxes Compare, 2021 Edition
Alabama had the nation’s second-lowest tax collections per capita in 2019. Only Tennessee had lower state and local tax revenue per resident than Alabama. Since the early 1990s, Alabama had the lowest tax collections in the U.S. But beginning in 2018, tax cuts in Tennessee and economic growth in Alabama caused Tennessee to dip below […]
How Alabama Taxes Compare, 2020 Edition
Alabama had the nation’s second-lowest tax collections per capita in 2018, the first time since the 1990s that any other state — in this case Tennessee — had lower state and local tax revenue per resident than Alabama. Economic growth in Alabama, including a significant gain in income tax collections, helped Alabama nudge past Tennessee. […]
Alabama Public Opinion Survey 2020
PARCA’s 2020 Public Opinion Survey, completed before the onset of the COVID-19 in the U.S., hints at the challenges state policymakers will face in responding to the pandemic. The survey finds, once again, aversion to certain taxes, support for public education, and mistrust in state government. At the same time, the survey finds a lack […]
How Alabama Taxes Compare, 2019 Edition
Despite gaining some ground in 2017, Alabama state and local governments still collected less in taxes than state and local governments in any other state on a per capita basis. That’s been true since the early 1990s and partially explains why Alabama struggles to provide the same level of public services as other states. PARCA’s […]