The Census Bureau says state and local tax revenues increased only 4.7 percent in 1991 - the lowest rate in nearly four decades.
State and local taxes now eat up 11 percent of personal income, the agency said in a report.It said the growth rate compared with an average 8.4 percent during the 1980s. Federal taxes increased 1.5 percent in 1991, compared with 6 percent annually during the 1980s.
Revenues collected by state and local governments totaled $1.081 trillion - $525 billion of which came from taxes. Total state and local spending increased 9 percent to $1.064 trillion in 1991, compared with $974 billion in 1990.
About 30 percent of state and local spending went for education and 12 percent went for welfare.
"The single largest component of federal government aid to state and local governments was money for welfare," said Henry Wulf, who wrote the report.