Robust Tax Collections Squelch State Moves for Big Tax Hikes

A handful of states that had been mulling big tax increases have mostly ditched them amid the unexpected influx of post-pandemic tax cash and federal aid.

Total state taxes were up over 81% through April compared with a year earlier, according to data collected by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Thanks to the rebounding economy and the $350 billion sent to them in the latest federal Covid-19 relief law, lawmakers in some states that had been eyeing big tax hikes—once feared as necessary—have cast them aside.

New York still forged ahead with a wealth tax, and a few others rolled ...