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Revenue collections bounce back in April

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Just as budget experts predicted, state revenue collections started bouncing back in the weeks following the April 15 tax deadline.

Missouri’s general revenue collections are currently up, which is a marked difference from previous months when figures were lagging compared to the previous year.

“Revenues bounced back in April,” State Budget Director Dan Haug told the Missouri Times.

“This is what we expected to see,” said Rep. Kip Kendrick, ranking member of the House Budget Committee. “For the first time this fiscal year, we saw the revenue actually creep into the black.”

Officials projected people would file returns close to tax day, April 15, after which revenue collections would climb. Based on revenue figures, it seems that prediction held true.

Net general revenue collections for 2019 fiscal year-to-date increased 2.8 percent compared to April 2018, from $7.8 billion last year to $8.0 billion this year. April 2019 alone increased 46.5 percent compared to those for April 2018, from $1.08 billion last year to $1.59 billion this year.

Comparatively, net general revenue collections for 2019 fiscal year-to-date were down 7 percent at the end of January and down 4.3 percent at the end of March.

“With these withholding errors increasingly looking like the culprit for the revenues issue we have had, it is important to clarify that withholdings being down means more money in the pocket of Missourians and their ultimate tax liability is lower,” said House Budget Chair Cody Smith.

He also noted while revenues are currently looking strong, it should not be conflated with the consensus revenue estimate. The figure he is watching is the total amount the state is projected to collect; according to the latest numbers Smith has, Missouri is $1.47 billion shy with just under two months to go.

“I think we are in good shape to come in around the consensus revenue estimate of 1.7 percent growth,” said Haug. “That should mean that the budget for this year and also the budget for 2020 are on track for the amount of revenues we thought were going to come in.”

“I think it puts the budget in fairly good shape moving forward,” said Kendrick, though prefacing the state “isn’t completely in the clear.” He cautioned collection figures need to be up considerably heading into June 2019 since June 2018 collections had been up significantly.

April 2019 General Revenue Report

Individual income tax collections

  • Increased 0.1 percent for the year, from $6.41 billion last year to $6.42 billion this year.
  • Increased 45.3 percent for the month.

Sales and use tax collections

  • Increased 2.8 percent for the year, from $1.79 billion last year to $1.84 billion this year.
  • Increased 5.9 percent for the month.

Corporate income and corporate franchise tax collections

  • Increased 22.1 percent for the year, from $356.4 million last year to $435.1 million this year.
  • Increased 68.0 percent for the month.

All other collections

  • Increased 2.6 percent for the year, from $395.2 million last year to $405.4 million this year.
  • Increased 17.4 percent for the month.

Refunds

  • Decreased 6.2 percent for the year, from $1.15 billion last year to $1.08 billion this year.
  • Increased 10.4 percent for the month.

Haug said in a press release the General Revenue Fund repaid the $500 million borrowed from the Budget Reserve Fund during fiscal year 2019, well ahead of the constitutional deadline of May 15.