Here’s an oldie but goodie from the New York Times’ Michael Cooper:

The recent signs of possible improvement in the economy have not trickled down to the states, which continued to be pummeled this spring by the steepest drop-offs in tax collections since comparable data was first compiled nearly half a century ago.

Total state tax collections from April through June dropped by a record 16.6 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a report released today by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York. The report found that total state tax collections were down by $63 billion for the year ended in June, which is roughly twice the amount of money that the states had received in fiscal relief through the stimulus program up to that point.

Talk about extending parts of the stimulus has centered on unemployment benefits, health care for the recently laid off, and tax credits to homebuyers and employers. But, after the unemployed, states need the money the most: to prevent further layoffs of teachers and health care workers, and replenish welfare programs like medical care for low-income children.

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