A strong upsurge in income tax collections offset an expected sales tax decline as year-to-date state revenues remained slightly ahead of last year’s pace and forecast.
Net available general revenues in August totaled $398.3 million, up 2.7% from the previous year and 3.2% above forecast.
“August results were ahead of forecast in all major categories of collections,” said John Shelnutt, chief economist and director of the Department of Finance and Administration’s Economic Analysis & Tax Research division. “A decline in sales tax collections compared to last year was anticipated, to adjust for one-time audit receipts in August 2014. Sales tax growth adjusted for this event was 3.9% year-over-year. Individual income tax collections were up 10.2%, aided by payroll timing effects in the withholding category. Corporate income tax collections were 22.2% above forecast in an otherwise minor collection month.”
Shelnutt also noted that smaller revenue sources were mixed. Tobacco tax revenues were below year ago levels and below forecast, while gaming tax revenues exceeded forecast and continued to display double-digit growth over year ago revenue.
Two months into the state’s fiscal year, which began July 1, year-to-date net available general revenues totaled $801.4 million, up 0.4% above year ago levels and 0.3% above forecast.
Other key tax collection categories included:
- Year-to-date Individual Income Taxes: Year-to-date individual income tax collections total $422.4 million, $26.6 million or 6.7% above FY 2014 collections and $9.0 million or 2.2% above forecast. Collections for individual withholding are up 7.3% from year ago levels.
- Year-to-date Sales and Use Tax Collections: On a year-to-date basis, sales and use taxes total $373.7 million, a decrease of $6.8 million or -1.8% from FY 2014 and $5.2 million or -1.4% below forecast.
- Year-to-date Corporate Income Taxes: Year-to-date corporate revenues total $26.2 million, a decrease of $6.6 million or -20.2% from year-to-date FY 2014. Corporate income is below forecast by $8.3 million or -24.1%.
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