2009 State Tax Tsunami Already Hitting 23 States

With state budgets feeling the pinch and the federal government refusing to bailout even California, the national mascot of state deficits, 23 states have raised taxes in 2009, with 13 more states considering increases. There's every reason to think that eventually almost all states will raise income, sales or business taxes, considering that in the far milder recession of the early 1990s, 44 states raised taxes by more than one percent. Where are taxes rising this time?

Check out the map below to find out. Some takeaways: Every state west of Colorado has passed or proposed a tax increase. State governments are often passing the tax increases over painful spending cuts. California is raising income taxes by .25 percent on top of almost $15 billion in service cuts. Sales taxes are also getting creative, from raising the price of beer and wine (New York) to eliminating exemptions for hybrid vehicles (Washington) to extending the sales tax to music downloads and periodical subscriptions (Wisconsin). For more from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities report, go here.