At this time last year, state lawmakers were in the midst of creating a two year budget with a deficit that was more than a half a billion dollars. It’s a different situation this year, but for the second month in a row, personal income tax collections came in at a rate lower than expected.
The state’s personal income tax haul in March was off nearly 3 percent from forecasts, down $14 million. February’s income tax revenue take was down slightly too, but with a huge jump recorded in January, income tax collections are still up by $210 million, or nearly 4 percent for the fiscal year. For the first time in four months, sales tax revenues were up – in March, by 5 percent. But the commercial activity tax that businesses pay was way off – down more than 87 percent. And that has dragged down overall tax revenues – for the third straight month they’ve come in under estimates, but are down only two tenths of a point for the year.
