Vermont Business Magazine What economists have called a "terrible" start to the ski season has had a predictable effect on the state's consumption tax revenues in January. Sales and Rooms & Meals were both off significantly, offsetting what was otherwise a decent month for revenues. General Fund (GF) revenues for the January were off slightly by -$1.30 million or -0.82 percent, totaling $156.85 million versus the monthly target of $158.15 million. A $4.04 million (+147.71 percent) jump in the Corporate Tax and a $1.51 million (+1.50 percent) increase in the vital Personal Income Tax were offset by a -$3.23 million hit (-10.94%) in the Sales and Use Tax and a -2.91 percent fall in the R&M tax (-$0.38 million). The Inheritance and Estate Tax also was down by -$1.99 million (- 77.73 percent). The cumulative GF revenues total of $824.84 million remains slightly below the Y-T-D target of 826.14 million by -$1.30 million, or -0.16%. Y-T-D January revenue receipts for FY 2016 exceed the prior year (FY 2015) results by +$27.50 million, or +3.45%.
Warm weather and rain have kept skiers away and even forced delays in resort openings. Bromley Mountain Resort in Manchester even suspended operations for Wednesday and Thursday of this week because of the adverse weather conditions.
January is the seventh month of FY 2016. The fiscal year revenue targets were adopted by the Vermont Emergency Board on January 19, 2016.
The Transportation Fund was also slightly down, but the Education Fund took the biggest hit, being below economists expectations by more than 13 percent.
The Transportation Fund (TF) non-dedicated receipts for January of $18.44 million, missed the monthly target by -$0.82 million (–4.26%), resulting in cumulative year to date receipts of $149.01 million. Compared to the prior fiscal year (FY 2015) the current cumulative results for TF are +$1.81 million, or +1.23% ahead.
The Education Fund (EF) receipts for January were $18.11 million, -2.84 million (-13.57%) below the monthly target of $20.95 million, driven largely by the under-performing Sales and Use component (-$1.74 million, or –10.94%). The EF cumulative results through December stand at $110.80 million vs a target of $113.65 million. Y-T-D revenues remain ahead of the prior fiscal year (FY 2015) by +$1.85 million, or +1.70%
Secretary Johnson said, “Based on the unseasonably warm weather and its impact on our tourism activity, it is not a surprise our consumption taxes under-performed for the month resulting in a slight under performance. We are very pleased with the performance of our Personal Income and Corporate Tax components.”
