The Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA) uses four alternative metrics to rank states according to the amount of state and local revenue raised. These four metrics are (1) own source general revenue per capita, (2) taxes per capita, (3) own source general revenue as a percentage of personal income, and (4) taxes as a percentage of personal income. (Own source general revenue includes taxes, charges and other miscellaneous general revenue. It does not include utility, liquor store, and insurance trust revenues or moneys received from the federal government.)

For fiscal year 2012, Washington ranked 18th among the states own source revenue per capita ($6,516), 22nd among the states in taxes per capita ($4,269), 30th in own source revenue as a percentage of personal income (14.8 percent), and 35th in taxes as a percentage of personal income (9.7 percent).

The Bureau of Economic Analysis now produces regional price parities with which it is possible to adjust for differences between states in the cost of living. When adjusted for cost-of-living differences, Washington ranked 21st in own source revenue per capita and 24th in taxes per capita for FY 2012.

The following table shows Washington’s ranking by these various measures for fiscal years 1995 through 2012. (There are no rankings for 2001 and 2003 because the Census did not survey local government finances in those two years. Regional price parities are not available before 2008.)

Sources: The FTA tables for FY 2012 are available here. Minnesota Department of Revenue historical rankings are available here. BEA regional price parities are available here.