Capitol Comments

With the end of tax season, CNBC has compiled some interesting graphics related to federal and state taxes. Using data from the Tax Foundation, the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Treasury Department, the article details where federal and state revenues come from and how they are spent. The top three spending items for the federal government were Health and Human Services, Social Security and Defense. An interactive map of the United States allows users to see several state-level measures, including total taxes paid, average deductions and state tax rates. 

The non-partisan Tax Foundation has calculated the tax burdens of the citizens of each state while adjusting for the fact that many state taxes are exported to residents of other states.

With the looming deadline for choosing health insurance quickly approaching, Yahoo News recently put out some enrollment figures by state. The idea was to contrast each state's projected enrollees by February 28th with the actual number of enrollees by March 1st. The numbers reveal a wide disparity between the states.

For 2013, 7 states have their own inheritance taxes and 14 states plus DC have their own estate taxes. Check out this link for a breakdown of estate and inheritance taxes for your state.

Governors are releasing their budget proposals for fiscal year 2015, which for most states will begin on July 1, 2014. Seventeen states previously enacted two-year budgets covering both fiscal years 2014 and 2015. The National Association of State Budget Officers has compiled a comprehensive list of links to proposed and previously enacted budgets for states and territories - check it out here: National Association of State Budget Officers.