North Dakota leads majority of U.S. states in revenue rebound

By Karen Pierog

CHICAGO (Reuters) - North Dakota, fueled by a boom in oil fracking, leads U.S. states with the highest tax revenue growth rate since the 2007-09 recession, according to a report released on Thursday.

While North Dakota tax collections as of 2016's second quarter rose nearly 37 percent over their 2008 peak, Alaska fared the worst with a nearly 94 percent drop since 2008, the Pew Charitable Trusts reported.

Pew found that despite a tax revenue slump in the quarter that marked the end of fiscal 2016 for most states, collections in 27 states still exceeded pre-recession levels. More than seven years into the recovery, the rebound has eluded other states.

"Twenty-three states still collect less tax revenue than at their recession-era peaks, after adjusting for inflation, and most have a thinner financial cushion than they did before the last downturn," the report said.

It added that tax hikes or cuts and other factors in some states have affected their revenue collections since the recession.

Along with North Dakota, other states with revenue rebound rates of 15 percent or more over recession-era highs, according to Pew, are Minnesota at 21.7 percent, Colorado at 19.9 percent, Iowa at 19.5 percent, Hawaii at 17.2 percent, California at 16.1 percent, and Maryland at 16 percent.

Joining Alaska with revenue drops of 15 percent or more are Wyoming at 31.1 percent, Louisiana at 19.1 percent, Florida at 17.7 percent, and Oklahoma at 15.1 percent.

(Reporting by Karen Pierog; editing by Daniel Bases and Chizu Nomiyama)