There’s some good news, for a change, on the state taxation front this week: After 2 years of steady and scary declines (as I noted here and here), states’ tax receipts are finally showing signs of a turnaround.

Corporate income tax growth turned positive in the fourth quarter of 2009 after posting declines in seven of the previous nine quarters, according to Census Bureau figures released Tuesday. Revenue from this source was $9.1 billion, up from $8.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Income taxes and sales taxes continued to slump, though at at lower rate than in previous periods. Overall revenue crept up to $360 billion from $357 billion in Q4 2008.

We can but hope that the trend continues, because some of the tax tactics adopted by cash-famished state authorities have been looking increasingly desperate. The New York Times ran a story last weekend about states’ push to extend sales taxes to a wider range of services. A Nebraska lawmaker, for example, has introduced a bill to tax “armored car services, farm equipment repairs, shoe shines, taxidermy, reflexology, and scooter repairs.” An odd mix, that. The legislator seems to have something against heavy machinery and personal services.

And speaking of personal services, let’s not forget Texas’s tax on strip clubs — the so-called “pole tax” — back in the news again after the state’s Supreme Court decided to hear arguments on whether imposing the $5-per-visit fee violates free speech protections. What exactly would constitute the free expression involved in a nude dance? “Eroticism … it’s seeking to create emotion,” argued an attorney for the Texas Entertainment Association, representing the state’s adult entertainment establishments, as quoted in this AP story. ###