New state taxes bloom with July's start

NEW YORK, July 1 (UPI) -- The first day of July marks a new fiscal year for 46 U.S. states, with some new taxes coming into effect and lots of spending planned, USA Today said Thursday.

Overall, taxpayers won't feel a bite, as an improving economy has ended three years of budgetary strains, the newspaper said.

"States are out of crisis mode," said Nicholas Jenny, who tracks state tax collections for the Nelson Rockefeller Institute of Government in Albany, N.Y., which studies state and local governments.

"States are like a two-income family that had a spouse laid off for three years," said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers. "Now, both spouses are working, but there's a lot of catch-up spending to do."

However, smokers in Michigan will pay an extra $7.50 per carton of cigarettes, Virginians will pay another half-cent sales tax on everything and wealthy families in New Jersey will pay higher state income taxes.