Uncertainty weighs on state revenue forecasts for fiscal 2016 to 2017.

• Position: News & Numbers

State tax revenue growth slowed significantly in the second half of 2015, according to preliminary data early in 2016, according to the recent "State Revenue Report" from the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York. Year-over-year growth was 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015. Preliminary data for the first quarter of 2016 call for another quarter of 1.9 percent growth.

Personal income tax revenue growth slowed to 5.1 percent on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter. Growth was weak in sales tax collections, at 2.1 percent, and motor fuels tax at 3.5 percent during this same period.

State corporate income taxes declined by 9.2 percent in the fourth quarter of...