The money the state brought in from taxes was down last month, and that has officials saying they’ll be watching the next few months very carefully.
Tax receipts for August were 4% below estimates, and the money brought in from personal income taxes was down $63 million – nearly 9% less than expected. State budget director Tim Keen says this is surprising given Ohio’s job and wage growth, but no one is panicking.
“We likely need to see a few more months. I mean, one month does not create a trend for us, so we need to analyze the underlying data.”
Cigarette and alcohol taxes came in above estimates, but sales and use taxes and commercial activity taxes were down too. Keen says there are some accounting specifics that could be part of the issue, but he says because of what he calls conservative budgeting, the state’s fiscal situation is still sound.
