2017 is in full swing. Businesses are trying to hit their first quarter goals and many individuals have already given up their New Year’s Resolutions. Whenever we turn the calendar over to the New Year, it’s a good time to take a step back and analyze everything, to set new goals and the evaluate past goals. While the IRS gets most of the publicity, you cannot ignore state tax trends! While everyone is fully immersed in filing their 2016 taxes, it is never too early to start thinking and planning for  2017.

Here are some state tax trends you can expect to see this year:

Decreasing income taxes but increasing sales tax. There have been quite a few states, plus Washington DC, who have implemented income tax cuts in the last decade — for both individuals and corporations. However, 18 states, such as Kansas and Louisiana, have increased their sales taxes.

Gross receipts taxes. It seemed like this tax was going the way of the dinosaur, but recently several states have brought it back in lieu of some corporate income taxes.

Dwindling estate and inheritance taxes. In New Jersey, they will completely phase out their estate tax by 2018. Twelve states have estate taxes and four have inheritance (two even use both!) but these numbers are trending downward.

Corporate income tax bases. Many states no longer rely as heavily on corporate income taxes since they are less predictable. Pass-through businesses have gained on C Corporations.

Lower taxation of capital. States are also lowering their reliance on personal property taxes. Taking this even further, many states also lowered or eliminated their capital stock taxes. Many experts say these taxes slow economic growth so this may be states trying to boost local economy.

While these trends seem like they have a pretty good chance to continue, past results aren’t always an indicator of future performance. Keep an eye on these, but don’t base too much of your strategies around them. You never know!