Category Archives: USA

U.S. Drought, Corn and Food Prices – July 24, 2012

  1. US drought could trigger repeat of global food crisis, experts warn – Suzanne Goldenberg (The Guardian)
  2. Europe Heat Wave Wilting Corn Adds to U.S. Drought: Commodities – Rudy Ruitenberg (Bloomberg)
  3. Vilsack: House must pass drought help in farm bill – David Pitt (Business Week)
  4. Grain markets weather driven but selling pressure builds | Price rise too far, too fast? Allendale Inc. (Futures Magazine)
  5. European debt worries drive down commodities, end record streaks for corn, soybeans – Associated Press (Washington Post)

 

Texas Drought Update – July 20, 2012

  1. How One Drought Changed Texas Agriculture Forever – John Burnett (NPR)
  2. About Those High Beef Prices: Remember Last Year’s Drought In Texas? Angelo Young (International Business Times)
  3. Texas Drought: Recent rains bring little drought relief (Lower Colorado River Authority-LCRA)
  4. Texas Drought Facts (The Texas Drought Project)
  5. On Drought, Texas to Nation: We Know How You Feel – Scott Harvey (KETR.org)

 

U.S. Drought Conditions Still Severe – July 19, 2012

  1. Updated U.S. Drought Map (U.S. Drought Portal)
  2. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack on the worst drought in decades- Interview by Jeremy Hobson (Marketplace.com)
  3. High Corn Prices Will Raise Food Prices (Live Trading News)
  4. How droughts will reshape the United States – Brad Plumer (Washington Post)
  5. Grain futures hit highs on drought – Dow Jones Newswires (Agriculture.com)
  6. As corn burns, excess ethanol credits help dampen demand – Jonathan Leff and Janet McGurty, Reuters (Cattle Network)

 

U.S. Drought Threatens Crops and Cattle – July 18, 2012

  1. Drought dims U.S. farm economy hopes – Joshua Zumbrun and Mark Drajem, Bloomberg (Futures Magazine)
  2. Drought Worsens for Farmers and Ranchers – Jennifer Preston | The Lede (New York Times)
  3. Drought wreaking havoc on cattle, hog farmers – Jeff Caldwell (Agriculture.com)
  4. Huge Dramatic Photos Of The Drought That’s Devastating America’s Farmland – Mamta Badkar and Rob Wile (Business Insider)
  5. Here’s Every Product On The Planet That Has Corn In It [INFOGRAPHIC] – Rob Wile (Business Insider)

Tax Revenue Per Capita

Today we improved our US state tax revenues section by adding a new variable: tax revenue per capita. Check out the map below for an example showing tax revenue per capita for tobacco products:

New Hampshire collects the most taxes on a per capita basis than any other state. Now we will have to look for data showing if high taxes on tobacco products result in lower numbers of smokers.

Sales Tax Collections Increase in Oklahoma

According to Stateline.org, sales tax collections have been on the rise in the last six months for some states, Oklahoma and West Virginia among others. They are expected to grow even more during the months of November and December 2010.  As can be seen in the graph below, sales tax collections have been on the rise except for the period between the fourth quarter 2008 and the first quarter 2010.

 

The second quarter 2010 shows an increase in sales tax collection of 9.4% with respect to the previous quarter.

Sales tax revenue is the second largest source of tax collections after individual income tax revenue for the state of Oklahoma as can be seen in the chart below.

North Carolina Sales Tax Revenue

Continuing with our series of posts about our new state tax revenue section, I highlight the case of sales tax revenue for North Carolina. Unlike many other states, sales tax revenue has increased significantly despite the economic downturn, as shown in the graph below.

In fact, sales tax revenue hit a high of $1.5 Billion in Q2 2010. It should be noted that the NC sales tax rate was increased temporarily by an additional 1% as of September 2009. The increase will expire on July 1, 2011.