With the vital personal income tax rebounding after a couple of lackluster months, General Fund revenues pulled nearly even with where they're supposed be for the year. Even with that, however, state officials remain cautious going forward, with another $50 million to $70 million budget shortfall facing legislators when they return in January.
General Fundrevenues totaled $82.49 million for November 2012, and were +$2.18 million or +2.71% above the $80.31 million consensus revenue forecast for the month. Year to date, General Fund revenues were $487.64 million, and -$0.05 million or -0.01% short of the cumulative target of $487.69 million.Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding released the November 2012 General Fund Revenue results Friday. November is the fifth month of fiscal year (FY) 2013.
Spaulding commented, November was a good month, revenue wise. Both General and Transportation Fund receipts were ahead of projections for the month and we are basically on target through the first five months of this fiscal year. More importantly, both the G- and T-Funds are running over 3 percent ahead of last year, which supports a continued trend of economic growth. I am especially pleased that personal income receipts rebounded in November, after a couple of months of below projected performance.
Current targets reflect the Fiscal Year 2013 Consensus Revenue Forecast adopted by the Emergency Board at their July 20, 2012 meeting. Statutorily, the State is required to revise the Consensus Revenue Forecast two times per year, in January and July; the Emergency Board may schedule interim revisions if deemed necessary.
Personal Income Tax (PI) receipts are the largest single state revenue source providing approximately 50% of total GF revenue. PI Tax receipts are reported Net-of-Personal Income Tax refunds. Net Personal Income Tax is comprised of PI Withholding Tax, PI Estimated Payments, PI Refunds Paid, and PI Other. Net PI Receipts for November were recorded at $39.09 million, +$2.78 million or +7.67% above the monthly target of $36.31 million. Year to date, Net PI Receipts were $237.45 million, -$6.33 million or -2.60% behind the FY 2013 target and +2.38% ahead of the results for the same period of the prior fiscal year (FY 2012).
Corporate Income Taxes are also reported net-of refunds. November Net Corporate Income Tax receipts of -$0.17 million lost ground this month (-$1.17 million, -116.68%) against the monthly target of $1.00 million. Year to date Corporate receipts were $26.90 million, +$2.91 million or +12.11% above target. Compared to the same period for the prior fiscal year (FY 2012), Corporate Income Tax receipts fell to -14.06% below the prior year.
Consumption tax results for November were both slightly short of target: Sales & Use Tax receipts of $18.25 million were behind target by -$0.13 million (-0.71%); Rooms & Meals Tax receipts of $11.40 million were behind target by -$0.16 million (-1.39%). Year to date, Sales & Use Tax receipts of $97.81 million fell -$0.51 million below the target of $98.32 million. Cumulative Rooms & Meals Tax of $61.09 million remain above target by +0.79%. Sales & Use Tax and Rooms & Meals Tax both exceed receipts for the prior year by +2.93% and +6.02% respectively.
The remaining non-major tax components include Insurance, Inheritance & Estate Tax, Real Property Transfer Tax, and Other (which includes: Bank Franchise Tax, Telephone Tax, Liquor Tax, Beverage Tax, Fees, and Other Taxes). The results for the remaining non-major categories for November were as follows: Insurance Tax, $7.00 million (+11.92%); Inheritance & Estate Tax, $1.89 (+30.05%); Property Transfer Tax, $0.69 million (+16.86%); and Other, $4.33 million (-9.04%). The fiscal year to date November results for the remaining non-major categories were: Insurance Tax, $15.65 million (+5.52%); Inheritance & Estate Tax, $10.86 (+39.49%); Property Transfer Tax, $4.09 million (+5.08%); and Other, $33.80 million (-1.99%). Cumulatively, the total non-major component receipts of $64.31 million exceeded the prior year total by +$7.61 million, or +13.41%.
Transportation Fund
The non-dedicated Transportation Fund Revenue for November was also reported on by Secretary Spaulding. Total non-dedicated Transportation Fund receipts of $17.09 million for the month exceeded the target by +$0.09 million (+0.54%), against the monthly target of $16.99 million. This is the above target result for the second month in a row and has recouped all but -$0.97 million, or -1.04% of the November fiscal year to date Transportation Fund receipts. Compared to FY 2012, year to date November Transportation Funds receipts exceed the prior year by +$3.03 million or +3.36% for the same period.
Individual Transportation Fund revenue receipts components for November were mixed: Gasoline Tax, $5.15 million or +4.92% ahead of target; Diesel Tax, $1.18 million or -10.81% below target; Motor Vehicle Purchase & Use Tax, $4.08 million or -2.58% behind target; Motor Vehicle Fees, $5.40 million or +1.32% ahead of target; and Other Fees, $1.28 million or +2.48% in excess of the monthly target. Year to date results for the individual Transportation Fund revenue components for November remain were below target in all but the Other category: Gasoline Tax, $25.98 million or -1.30% below target; Diesel Tax, $6.04 million or -7.28% behind target; Motor Vehicle Purchase & Use Tax, $22.82 million or -1.40% short of target; Motor Vehicle Fees, $30.90 million or -0.42% short of target; and Other Fees, $7.53 million or +4.29 above the monthly target.
The Secretary also reported on the results for the Transportation Infrastructure Bond Fund (TIB). TIB Fund Gas receipts for November were $1.84 million or +8.25% ahead of the monthly target; year to date TIB Gas receipts were $9.43 million or +2.56% above target. TIB Fund Diesel receipts for the month were $0.14 million or -15.56% short of the monthly target; year to date TIB Diesel receipts were $0.60 million or -26.08% short of target. The year to date TIB results were +4.25% below and 469.43% above the TIB Fund Gas receipts and TIB Diesel receipts, respectively, from the prior year (FY 2012). TIB Fund receipts are noted below the following table:
Education Fund
Secretary Spaulding also released the non-Property Tax Education Fund revenues (which constitute approximately 13% of the total Education Fund sources) today. The non-Property Tax Education Fund receipts for November totaled $12.70 million, or -$0.56 million (-4.20%) below the $13.26 million target for the month. Year to date, non-Property Tax Education Fund receipts were $68.18 million, or -1.36% short of the year to date target. The individual Education Fund revenue component results for November were: Sales & Use Tax, $9.13 million, or -0.72% below target; Motor Vehicle Purchase & Use Tax, $2.04 million or -2.58%; Lottery Transfer, $1.53 million or -21.35% above target; Education Fund Interest for November was less than $0.01 million. Year to date receipts by component were: Sales & Use Tax, $48.90 million, or -0.52% short of target; Motor Vehicle Purchase & Use Tax, $11.41 million or -1.40; Lottery Transfer, $7.83 million or -6.25% below target; year to date Education Fund Interest was less than $0.04 million against a target under $0.04 million. As compared to prior year, FY 2013year to date non-Property Tax Education Fund receipts are +2.62% ahead of the FY 2012 results for the same period.
Conclusion
Secretary Spaulding concluded, Though November was a positive month for tax receipts and General Fund revenues are on target for the fiscal year, there remains a good deal of uncertainty looking ahead. There are some positive economic indicators, as well as some huge unresolved issues beyond our borders that could put a damper on our continuing economic rebound. We look forward to the updated consensus revenue forecast due in mid-January.