The 'Temporary' Recession Tax You're Still Paying

The Great Recession might be over, but residents and businesses in many states across the country are still paying "temporary" taxes put in place to help refill public coffers.

The downturn, of course, hammered state budgets. In response, 14 states and the District of Columbia tried to plug their revenue shortfalls in part by imposing temporary taxes, a new report from the Tax Policy Center found.

Combined, those states and D.C. imposed 25 temporary tax measures between 2008 and 2011.

Of those 25, however, 13 have since been extended, made permanent or replaced. Nine were actually allowed to expire on schedule and 3 still haven't reached their expiration date.

Connecticut, for instance, extended its temporary 10% corporate income surtax twice, and has since increased it to 20%.

Hawaii temporarily increased its lodging tax by 2 percentage points to 9.25%, then made that increase permanent.

Kansas raised its sales and excise tax from 5.7% to 6.3%. Then it ratcheted back the increase a little - to 6.15% - and made that permanent.

Similarly, Delaware increased its top income tax rate by 1 percentage point to 6.95%, then lowered it to 6.6% in two steps and made it permanent.

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