Record revenues pour into states

Booming revenues are filling state budget coffers across the country to the brim as both higher wages and higher prices increase tax collections far beyond expectations.

A review of state fiscal offices conducted by the National Conference of State Legislatures found half the states now expect to exceed revenue projections this fiscal year, projections that were already far higher than in previous years. Another 17 states are on pace to meet their expectations.

The good news comes two years after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, when state budget officers looked into an abyss of red ink in the midst of business shutdowns and mass layoffs that appeared to be the brink of the next Great Depression.