Arkansas’ year-to-date tax revenue up 1.4%, April revenue down 0.7%

Continued gains in sales and use tax revenue helped push total Arkansas tax revenue up 1.4% in the first 10 months of the fiscal year (July 2023-April 2024). Fiscal year surplus revenue was $250.8 million at the end of April.

Total revenue in the first 10 fiscal months was $7.214 billion, up $99.1 million, or 1.4%, compared with the same period in the previous fiscal year, according to a report posted Thursday (May 2) by the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA).

Income tax revenue in the first 10 fiscal months was $3.265 billion, down 2.6% from the same period in 2023 but 6.3% above forecast. Sales tax revenue in the first 10 fiscal months was $2.899 billion, up 3% above the same period in 2023 and 1.7% above the forecast. The corporate income tax in the first 10 months was $616.2 million, down $65.8 million compared with the 2023 period and 12.3% above the forecast.

“Revenue collection significantly surpassed the forecast despite the effects of reduced corporate and individual tax rates and the $150 one-time income tax credit. Additionally, April was a good month for our citizens as more than 305,000 refunds were issued to individual taxpayers. That brings total refunds so far in 2024 to 850,579, an increase of 47,300 over last year. We remain optimistic as we enter the last two months of Fiscal Year 2024,” Jim Hudson, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, said in a statement.

APRIL REVENUE
Total revenue in April was $1.113 billion, down 0.7% compared with April 2023, and 25.1% above forecast. Individual income tax revenue in April was $606.7 million, up 0.6% compared with April 2023, and 31.5% above the budget forecast.

Sales and use tax revenue was $300.7 million, up 4.5% million compared with April 2023 and 8% above the forecast. Corporate income tax revenue was $173.4 million, down $24.8 million compared with April 2023, and $56 million above the forecast.

Arkansas ended the previous fiscal year (July 2022-June 2023) with a $1.161 billion tax revenue surplus driven in large part by a more than 8% growth in sales tax collections. Total tax revenue in the fiscal year was $8.85 billion, up 0.9% compared with the previous fiscal year and 1.7% more than the budget forecast.

The fiscal year surplus of $1.161 billion was the third consecutive year of a surplus of near or more than $1 billion. Total tax revenue in fiscal year 2022 (July 2021-June 2022) was $8.773 billion, up 8% – or $651.2 million – and the budget surplus was $1.628 billion. The surplus in the fiscal year that ended June 2021 was $945.7 million.

OTHER TAX REVENUE
Tobacco
July 2023-April 2024: $160.9 million
July 2022-April 2023: $170.1 million

Insurance
July 2023-April 2024: $86.6 million
July 2022-April 2023: $82.1 million

Alcoholic beverages
July 2023-April 2024: $61.6 million
July 2022-April 2023: $60.5 million

Games of skill
July 2023-April 2024: $46.9 million
July 2022-April 2023: $43.4 million