Consumers' Share and Producers' Share of the General Sales Tax

We estimate, for each state with a general sales tax, the percentage ofthat tax that is levied directly on final consumption spending of the state's residents. State by state, the consumers'share ranges from 28 to 89 percent. For all states together, it is 59 percent, findings that generally agree with expectations and with other estimates for single states. Most of the remaining sales tax is on producer inputs. Between 1979 and 1989, the consumers'share increased for 28 states, fell for 17 states, and was unchanged in 1 state.