State Fiscal Policy Toolkit

Taxes make up about half of state government revenue, with two-thirds of states’ total tax dollars coming from levies on personal income (39.8%) and general sales of goods and services (29.2%).

The nation’s state retirement systems finished the 2021 fiscal year in their best condition since the Great Recession of 2007-09. According to projections by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the gap between the cost of pension benefits that states have promised their workers and what they have set aside to pay for them dropped in 2021 to its lowest level in more than a decade. Pew estimates that state retirement systems are now over 80% funded for the first time since 2008.

State governments generally adopt budgets that lawmakers believe are balanced, with sufficient revenue to pay for expenses. But because states typically enact their budgets before the start of a fiscal year, policymakers must rely on forecasts of how much revenue the state will collect and how much it will spend.

As recently as early February, roughly 1 in 5 individuals held in some jails—as well as many staff—were testing positive for COVID-19. The surging rate of infection, due largely to the omicron variant, drove home the reality that jails—used primarily to incarcerate people awaiting trial, and where people are indoors often in close quarters—can be vectors for disease, particularly as staff or people being rearrested move between facilities and the community.