, Poynter estimated that the average revenue from general sales taxes is about 23% of total state revenue. About two-thirds of the nation's total state sales taxes come just from retail.
"Historically, sales taxes have been more stable during economic crises, but with closures and people largely remaining in their homes, consumption has plummeted," Jared Walczak, director of State Tax Policy at the Tax Foundation, told Business Insider. Walczak said when a state will reopen depends on many factors, not just a state's reliance on sales taxes, and "any major tax will take a beating right now.", states are projected to have a $105 billion budget shortfall for fiscal year 2020 and a record deficit of $290 billion for fiscal year 2021.
To see which states could be most devastated by a decline in retail sales and consumer demand amid the coronavirus, Business Insider looked at which states have the highest share of sales taxes as part of their total tax revenues. We used fourth quarter 2019 figures from theWashington had the highest share at 66%.