The state budget director says May’s general revenue report shows the state economy is making slow but steady rebounds. Budget Director Linda Luebbering says the numbers show consumer confidence is up slightly from last year. She says sales and use taxes dropped slightly — two and a half percent — from last May, but that was to be expected.
“We had expected the sales and use tax to grow at a slower pace than the individual income tax,” she says. This expectation was driven by the assumption that jobs and salaries would increase first; and then later consumers would feel comfortable enough to start increasing their purchases.”
She says the overall numbers show a boost in consumer confidence, however sales taxes actually show a decline in May, slightly up for the year, meaning consumers are still very cautious about the purchases they’re making.
GROSS COLLECTIONS BY TAX TYPE
Individual income tax collections
· Increased 9.3 percent for the year, from $5.33 billion last year to $5.82 billion this year.
· Increased 3.5 percent for the month.
Sales and use tax collections
· Increased 1.5 percent for the year from $1.71 billion last year to $1.74 billion this year.
· Decreased 2.5 percent for the month.
Corporate income and corporate franchise tax collections
· Increased 3.1 percent for the year, from $414.1 million last year to $427.1 million this year.
· Increased 15.9 percent for the month.
All other collections
· Increased 25.9 percent for the year, from $347.4 million last year to $437.2 million this year.
· Increased 33.6 percent for the month.
Refunds
· Decreased 5.6 percent for the year, from $1.19 billion last year to $1.13 billion this year.
· Increased 15.6 percent for the month.