August State Revenues Climb Higher

Arkansas finance officials said that one-time sales tax audit payments and higher corporate income tax collections boosted August state revenues.  Sales tax collections also showed signs of life despite a sluggish year overall.

The Department of Finance and Administration reported that August net available general revenues topped $387.8 million, $18.7 million or 5.1 percent above last year and $5.7 million or 1.5 percent above forecast.

“August results were boosted by one-time Sales tax audit payments and better than expected Corporate Income tax collections. Weakness in Individual Income tax partially offset these increases. Additional reporting periods should determine whether this weakness is part of a trend or a temporary payroll timing issue,” said John Shelnutt, director of DF&A’s Economic Analysis & Tax Research division.

Year-to-date, net available general revenues totaled $798 million, up 3.2 percent from one year ago and 1.7 percent above forecast. August is the second month of the state’s fiscal year.

Other revenues of note:

• Year-to-date Individual Income Taxes: Year-to-date individual income tax collections total $395.8 million, $6.0 million or -1.5 percent below FY 2013 collections and $8.6 million or -2.1 percent below forecast.
• Year-to-date Sales and Use Tax Collections: On a year-to-date basis, sales and use taxes total $380.5 million, an increase of $24.6 million or 6.9 percent from FY 2013 and $8.5 million or 2.3 percent above forecast.
• Year-to-date Corporate Income Taxes: Year-to-date corporate revenues total $32.8 million, an increase of $3.2 million or 10.7 percent from year-to-date FY 2013. Corporate income is above forecast by $2.6 million or 8.7 percent.

You can access the full revenue report at this link.