RIPEC: R.I. tax collections 14th highest in country in ’13

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s fiscal 2013 total tax collections were 14th highest in the country when measured on personal income and per capita, at $111.18 per $1,000, and $5,132, respectively, according to the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council’s annual report, “How Rhode Island Revenues Compare.”
The report, which provides detail on state and local government revenue sources from fiscal 2013, the most recent year for which state and national data are available from the U.S. Census Bureau.
“As the data indicate, Rhode Island continues to have one of the highest tax burdens of any state in the nation,” John C. Simmons, executive director of RIPEC, said in a statement.
“In particular, the property tax continues to place a substantial burden on individuals and businesses, despite attempts to restrain tax levy growth, such as the property tax cap. As the state continues to explore policy reforms to promote economic growth, reducing the property tax burden should be near the top of the list,” Simmons said.

RIPEC said that Rhode Island’s tax burden continues to be driven by the state’s high property tax collections, which accounted for 44.5 percent of all tax collections in the state during fiscal 2013.

During fiscal 2013, Rhode Island’s property tax collections were fourth-highest in the United States as a share of $1,000 of personal income at $49.45, and sixth-highest on a per capita basis at $2,283. Both were higher than the national averages of $32.49 and $1,450, respectively.
The report said the state’s property tax collections climbed faster than the national average between fiscal 2002 and 2013. The report said the state also has “grown increasingly reliant on property taxes over time.”
It said that in fiscal 2002, property tax collections accounted for 40.4 percent of total state and local tax revenue, growing to 44.5 percent of all tax revenue in the most recent fiscal year available.
It said that Rhode Island’s other taxes were more comparable to national averages in fiscal 2013, and that when measured on a per capita basis, the state’s individual income tax collections were 24th highest and general sales tax collections were 32nd.
Overall, the state’s fiscal 2013 tax collections of $111.18 per $1,000 of personal income were 7.1 percent higher than the national average of $103.82 per $1,000 of personal income; on a per capita basis, Rhode Island’s tax collections of $5,132 were 10.8 percent greater than the national average of $4,634.

In fiscal 2013, state and local governments in Rhode Island collected total revenue of $12.1 billion, approximately 7.5 percent more than fiscal 2012 levels. A “significant factor” contributing to increased government revenues in fiscal 2013 in Rhode Island was an increase in non-general revenues, which includes insurance trust, utility and liquor store revenue, RIPEC said.

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  1. The tax burden is not only high, but noticeably regressive as it is so dominated by real estate levies where rich and poor pay essentially the same rate. The income tax we hear so much moaning about is really only middle of the pack and the top brackets continue to be lowered. Sales and gas taxes are similarly stacked against low income citizens.