General Revenue Fund collections in May were $497.8 million and came in at $82.3 million, or 19.8 percent, above the monthly estimate. This amount is $109.7 million, or 28.3 percent, above collections in May of 2017. Total collections over the first 11 months of the fiscal year were $5.2 billion which is $317.9 million, or 6.5 percent, above the year-to-date estimate and $730.8 million, or 16.3 percent, over the year-to-date for 2017.
“The last time we exceeded the estimate by a similar amount was August of 2016, and that was due to anomalies in collections, ” said Office of Management and Enterprise Services Director Denise Northrup. “Obviously, this is good news and I’m pleased to see a strong showing that can largely be attributed to the state’s continued economic recovery.”
Both corporate and personal incomes taxes had solid returns for the month, but both sources had significantly lower refunds than expected, somewhat skewing their comparison to the estimate. Additionally, corporate gross collections came in lower than last year. Total income tax collections were $39.3 million, or 34.6 percent, above the estimate and $29.1 million, or 23.5 percent, above the prior year.
“As a reminder, collections over the 100 percent estimate are deposited into the Rainy Day Fund,” stated Northrup. “With double digit growth, we expect the deposit to be robust.”
As state government’s main operating fund, the GRF is the key indicator of state government’s fiscal status and the predominant funding source for the annual appropriated state budget. GRF collections are revenues that remain for the appropriated state budget after rebates, refunds and mandatory apportionments. Gross collections, reported by the State Treasurer, are all revenues collected by the state before rebates, refunds and mandatory apportionments.
“There are quite a few complex moving pieces that will play out in the coming months that could potentially affect the budget. We will be keeping a watchful eye on them and how they may impact agency appropriations moving forward,” Northrup added.
Denise Northrup is the director of OMES, which issues the monthly GRF reports.
Major tax categories in May contributed the following amounts to the GRF:
- Total income tax collections of $152.8 million were $39.3 million, or 34.6 percent, above the estimate and $29.1 million, or 23.5 percent, above the prior year.
Individual income tax collections of $147.4 million were $34.0 million, or 30.0 percent, above the estimate and $23.8 million, or 19.3 percent, above the prior year.
Corporate income tax collections of $5.4 million were $5.3 million, or 6,277.2 percent, above the estimate and $5.3 million, or 4,882.0 percent, above the prior year. - Sales tax collections of $177.6 million were $9.0 million, or 5.4 percent, above the estimate and $21.7 million, or 13.9 percent, above the prior year.
- Gross production tax collections of $52.8 million were $16.5 million, or 45.7 percent, above the estimate and $39.0 million, or 283.9 percent, above the prior year.
Natural gas collections of $18.8 million were $2.6 million, or 12.1 percent, below the estimate and $7.4 million, or 64.7 percent, above the prior year.
Oil collections of $34.0 million were $19.1 million, or 128.7 percent, above the estimate and $31.6 million, or 1,345.4 percent, above the prior year. - Motor vehicle tax collections of $19.9 million were $2.8 million, or 16.4 percent, above the estimate and $2.1 million, or 12.0 percent, above the prior year.
- Other revenue collections of $94.7 million were $14.6 million, or 18.3 percent, above the estimate and $17.8 million, or 23.1 percent, above the prior year.
