The kick-off to fiscal year 2022 beat last July’s collections by more than 5 percent
The Department of Revenue’s tax collection train kept a-rolling in July, kicking off fiscal year 2022 by bringing in more than $2.25 billion and beating last July’s collections by more than 5 percent.
About 24 hours before announcing July receipts, DOR reported that final tax collections for fiscal year 2021 totaled $34.137 billion — more than $5 billion and 17 percent above the state’s benchmark and $4.5 billion or 15 percent more than the actual amount collected in fiscal year 2020.
The $2.252 billion hauled in during July was $110 million or 5.1 percent more than what the state took in last July, DOR announced Wednesday. The monthly benchmarks that show the progression of tax collections throughout the fiscal year are still in development and will be included in future monthly revenue reports, DOR said.
“July revenue included increases relative to July 2020 collections in sales tax, non-withheld income tax, and the ‘all other taxes’ category, and decreases in withholding and corporate and business taxes,” Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder said. “The decrease in withholding tax was the result of typical periodic fluctuations, while corporate and business taxes decreased compared to July 2020 due to the unusually high collections in that month as a result of the deferral of the income tax return and payment deadline and the waiver of penalties for corporate excise returns and payments.”
July is one of the least significant revenue months for the state, typically accounting for about 6.7 percent of annual revenue, DOR said. The agency said the month’s results “should not be used as a predictor for the rest of the fiscal year.”
July’s take begins in a year in which state tax collections will need to grow by less than 1 percent to hit the revenue estimate written by lawmakers and the Baker administration into the $47.6 billion fiscal year 2022 budget. After first projecting $30.12 billion in tax revenue for fiscal 2022, lawmakers and the administration agreed in the budget signed last month to increase the tax revenue projections by more than $4.2 billion to $34.35 billion.
