At least we’re not Ohio.
A new report by the Pew Charitable Trusts that looks at state tax revenues at the end of the first quarter of 2019 found they were up 13 percent across the nation since their pre-recession peak in 2008.
“The results mean that states collectively had the equivalent of 13 cents more in purchasing power for every $1 they collected at their recession-era peak more than a decade earlier,” the Pew team reported.
When researchers drilled down to the state level, things weren’t quite as rosy.
In Pennsylvania, the recovery saw state tax revenues increasing by 6.1 percent from the pre-recession peak, less than half the national level.
Like Pennsylvania, West Virginia saw an increase in state tax collections over the 2008 peak, but only 2.3 percent.
And then there was Ohio, where tax revenues were down 7 percent since the pre-recession peak.
Those numbers all pale next to Maryland, where tax revenues were up 21 percent.
Although the Pew report looked at first quarter 2019 figures, a state report showed revenue collection in Pennsylvania continued on an upward track through Oct. 31.
Pennsylvania Revenue Secretary Dan Hassell reported that the state collected $2.7 billion in general fund revenue in October, or $119.7 million more than projected.
