Personal Tax and Nontax Payments (SA50): States and Regions in the U.S., 1929-1997

<p>Table SA50 presents BEA's State estimates of personal tax and nontax payments (PTNT) and shows the subtraction of PTNT from personal income to yield disposable personal income--the income available to persons for spending and saving. Nontax payments consist mainly of fees, fines, and donations to government. PTNT is presented by level of government--Federal, State, and local--and by type of payment for each level. However, the estimates of personal property taxes are presented for State and local government combined because the source data for this type of tax payment do not distinguish between the two levels. For the Federal government and for most State governments, individual income taxes are the most important type of PTNT. Except in the few States that authorize individual income taxes for local governments, nontax payments are generally the most important type of PTNT for local government. The source data for the estimates of Federal Government PTNT, which are provided mainly by the Internal Revenue Service, reflect the residence of the payers. The source data for State and local government PTNT, which are provided mainly by the Bureau of the Census, reflect the States in which the revenues are collected; BEA adjusts these data to reflect the States in which the payers reside. Real property taxes (i.e., taxes on the value of land and buildings) and sales taxes are not included in PTNT because these taxes are classified as indirect business taxes in the national income and product accounts. The real property taxes paid by homeowners are treated as an expense in the derivation of the rental income component of personal income. Sales taxes are included in personal consumption expenditures.</p>