The latest figures on states’ fiscal condition confirm that the economy continued its tailspin through the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first two months of 2009, with dire implications for state spending on higher education.

Sales-tax collections fell more than 6 percent in the waning months of 2008, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to a study released today by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, the State University of New York’s public-policy research arm. That is the worst decline in 50 years, the institute reported.

“While income growth has slowed, the big story so far is that consumption of goods — especially durables — has been declining,” Donald J. Boyd, a senior fellow at the institute, said in a written statement. “This is a classic response of consumers to economic uncertainty and fears of lower income: eliminating, postponing, and scaling back purchases of items that are not necessary or not needed immediately, such as new cars, washing machines, and so on.”

Preliminary figures for January and February of this year are just as discouraging, with overall state tax collections nearly 13 percent lower than they were over the same period a year ago, the institute reported.

“Based on our expectation that revenue conditions will deteriorate further, there is great risk that state budgets being negotiated over the next month or two will have to be buttressed with additional spending cuts or tax increases as the year progresses,” Mr. Boyd said. —Eric Kelderman