February state tax collections exceed estimate
For the first time in more than a year state revenue collections have exceeded estimates.
State revenue collections in February exceeded the estimate for the first time since December 2008, but fell short of prior year collections for the same month, state Treasurer Scott Meacham said today.
Preliminary reports show general revenue fund collections in February are $220.6 million. That amount is $17.3 million, or 7.3 percent, below last year, but $800,000, 0.4 percent, above the estimate.
February revenue collections are historically the lowest of the year because income tax refunds are paid out, Meacham said. Collections were, as expected, not sufficient to fund allocations to state agencies for the month even with the previously announced 10 percent across-the-board reductions to agencies.
In addition to available general revenue fund cash, an additional $84.8 million had to be tapped from other funds to make the $321.1 million monthly allocation, according to the treasurer’s office.
Gross production taxes on oil are providing a much-needed boost in revenue collections, Meacham said.
“We received $25 million in gross production taxes on oil in February, while the official estimate anticipated no oil gross production taxes would be deposited to the general revenue fund for the entire fiscal year,” he said.
Meacham said personal income tax collections were also significantly higher than anticipated for the month and are beginning to show signs of recovery.
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or follow this blog's RSS and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment