How States Raise Their Tax Dollars

Editor’s note: The analysis was updated on June 12, 2023, to clarify the timing of the most recent available data on the share of state government revenue coming from taxes.

Taxes typically make up almost half of state government revenue. In fiscal year 2022, two-thirds of states’ total tax dollars came from levies on personal income (38.2%) and general sales of goods and services (29.5%).

Broad-based personal income taxes were the greatest source of tax dollars in 31 of the 41 states that impose them, with the highest share (62.3%) in Oregon and the lowest share (8.8%) in North Dakota. General sales taxes were the largest source in 15 of the 45 states that collect them. Florida was most reliant on these taxes, which made up 63.9% of its tax revenue. Only four states received most of their fiscal 2022 revenue from sources other than personal income or general sales taxes: severance taxes in Alaska and North Dakota, license taxes in Delaware, and corporate income taxes in New Hampshire.