Vermont Business Magazine Preliminary tax revenue data for July, the first month of fiscal year 2017, reflects a slightly down month for the General, Fund, Transportation and Education Funds. The General Fund for the month of July collected $108.51 million, -$1.30 million or -1.19% below revenue targets adopted by the Emergency Board on July 21, 2016. The underperformance was driven primarily by the Personal Income Tax at -$6.17 million or –11.22% below target. The Personal Income Tax is the largest single revenue source in the state. Better than projected performance in the Corporate Tax of +$1.3 million or +71.63% , the Inheritance and Estate Tax of +$1.38 million or +39.04% and the Other Taxes Category of +$1.86 million or +17.01% helped to soften the blow dealt by the Personal Income Tax shortfall.
The Transportation Fund collected $19.09 million for the month of July, -$0.96 million or –4.81% below a target of $20.05 million. Better than projected results in the Diesel Fuel Tax of +$1.47 million or 1,579% were offset by an underperformance in the Purchase and Use and Motor Vehicle Fees of $1.07 million and -$0.62 million.
The Education Fund collected $15.17 million for the month of July missing the target by -$0.65 million or –4.13%. The underperformance was driven by the Purchase and Use Tax coming in at -$0.53million or –24.37% vs target.
General Fund revenue increased by $3.16 million or 3.0% and the Transportation Fund $0.16 million or 0.86% over same period last year. The Education Fund came in -$0.71 million or –4.45 % less then same period last year.
Secretary Johnson said, “Revenue results for the first month of the fiscal year don’t tell us much about how the year will go, so although they are slightly off from projections, the numbers are not particularly meaningful until we can get a trend a few months in. It is encouraging to see that our year-over-year results remain positive and Vermont’s economy continues to grow.”
