Posted on: Friday, November 19, 2004

State revenues up 11% for fiscal first quarter

Advertiser Staff

State revenues continue to come in at a faster clip than a year ago even though October's infusion of cash was smaller than it was in October 2003.

Through Oct. 31, the state had collected $1.21 billion for the state fiscal year, a period that runs from July 1 to June 30. The amount is 11.1 percent higher than the $1.09 billion collected during the first four months of the previous fiscal year.

The state Council on Revenues, which makes the forecasts on which the state budget is based, has projected an 8.8 percent increase for the year.

General excise and use taxes, the largest category of collections, is up 4.9 percent for the year while individual income taxes, the second largest category, is up 15.5 percent.

Collections for October 2004 were $266.5 million, down about 2.3 percent from the $272.7 million collected during the same month in 2003. State tax officials blamed the decrease on a statistical anomaly known as the "weekend effect." The last day of October 2004 fell on a Sunday, which means a portion of October's revenues will be counted in the November report.