For the second month in a row, the state collected more income taxes than forecasts suggested it would. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler reports that’s quite a turnaround from last year, when the two-year state budget had to be trimmed as income taxes fell nearly $850 million short.
Personal income tax collections were up nearly 1 percent last month, and that means the state is running almost 3 percent above where it thought it would be in that category.
But, while income tax revenue has now been up for two months straight, there was some weakness. For example, the commercial activity tax that businesses pay dropped nearly 1percent below forecasts, after being up almost 22 percent for July.
However, for the first time in almost a year, total taxes collected were above estimates for the month. And the state is around $23.5 million ahead for the fiscal year so far. Budget Director Tim Keen had said he would be scaling back forecasts after problems in hitting the numbers last fiscal year.
