This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Aug. 2, 2012 - The state of Missouri’s revenue collections in July are up almost 12 percent from July 2011 – but state Budget Director Linda Luebbering says no celebration is warranted.
The July overall collection figure of $505.7 million this year is skewed, explained Luebbering, by the $39 million check that the state received under a $26 billion mortgage settlement with five major lenders. Missouri’s share was $196 million, with about $155 million of it going directly to about 20,000 homeowners, many of whom had lost their homes due to foreclosure since Jan. 1, 2008.
As with other states, a share of Missouri’s award was to go to general revenue. The $39 million check represents the bulk of it. Gov. Jay Nixon said last winter the extra money would be used to restore some of the higher-education cuts that he had initially proposed for the 2013 budget.
(At least $1 million of the remaining money from the settlement was to go to Attorney General Chris Koster’s office to cover its costs in handling the case, according to the attorney general at last winter's news conference.)
Without the $39 million, the state’s July income was up about 3.2 percent from July 2011, when collections totaled $452.2 million. Luebbering said she’s happy with that increase, but she noted that it’s less than the projected 3.9 percent increase for the entire 2013 fiscal year, compared to 2012, that was used to draw up this fiscal year’s budget.
July is the first month of the 2013 fiscal year.
Individual income tax collections were down in July by 3.4 percent, compared to July 2011. But Luebbering attributed the drop simply to earlier tax payments by employers; the June 2012 collections were way up, compared to June 2011.
Here’s the revenue breakdown for July:
GROSS COLLECTIONS BY TAX TYPE
Individual income tax collections
Decreased 3.4 percent, from $353.4 million last year to $341.3 million this year.
Sales and use tax collections
Increased 14.8 percent, from $126.7 million last year to $145.4 million this year.
Corporate income and corporate franchise tax collections
Increased 9.4 percent, from $15.4 million last year to $16.8 million this year.
All other collections
Increased 144.9 percent, from $22.9 million last year to $56.0 million this year. (This is the category documenting the $39 million settlement check.
Refunds
Decreased 18.8 percent from $66.2 million last year to $53.7 million this year.
Luebbering said the state’s general revenue fund borrowed $100 million from the Budget Reserve Fund for cash-flow purposes. According to the state’s constitution, the money must be repaid by May 15, 2013.
