State tax collections down 2.3%

Arkansas tax collections between July and November are $2.147 billion, down 2.3% below the same period in 2008 and 0.9% below forecasts, according to a Wednesday (Dec. 2) report from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

The state’s fiscal year runs from July to June.

Gross receipts collections— primarily sales and use tax —  total $827.2 million fiscal year-to-date, down 9% below the 2008 period and 1.6% below forecasts.

“This decline stems from a combination of weak consumer sales, business-to-business sales, weather effects, and a series of non-recurring refunds,” noted the DF&A statement.
 
Year-to-date individual income taxes total $959.9 million, down 4.5% below the 2008 period and 0.4% below forecasts. Year-to-date corporate income taxes total $164
million, up 29.9% from the 2008 period, but down 1.1% below forecasts.

During November, gross receipts collections totaled $155.7 million, 7.1% dip compared to November 2008 and 3.9% below forecast.

November Gross Receipts Collections: November collections total $155.7 million, a
decrease of $11.8 million or -7.1 percent from last year.  Collections were below
monthly forecast levels by $6.4 million or -3.9 percent.

All taxes collected in November totaled $480.7 million, up 19.8% over November 2008 but 0.8% below forecasts.

“This pattern was produced by large, non-recurring collections in corporate income tax that were accounted for in the forecast,” the DF&A note said in explaining the November collections.