This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 2, 2012 - More Missourians are working, and fewer are gambling. That’s the upshot of the latest income and budget numbers for the state of Missouri.
Linda Luebbering, the state’s budget director is pleased that this fiscal year’s general revenue collections so far are up 6.6 percent from the same period a year ago -- from $1.78 billion last fiscal year to $1.90 billion so far this fiscal year, which began July 1.
The September increase is up by an identical percentage. “Net general revenue collections for September 2012 increased by 6.6 percent compared to those for September 2011, from $697.3 million to $743.2 million,” the budget office said in a statement.
But about a third of the year-to-date increase is from the one-time payment of about $40 million into state coffers as part of the mortgage settlement between five major banking institutions and the 50 states, including Missouri.
(The bulk of the settlement, including $155 million in Missouri, went to affected homeowners.)
Without the settlement, the state of Missouri’s income growth this fiscal year is hovering around 4 percent – about in line with the 3.9 percent projection that Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration and the General Assembly used in crafting this fiscal year’s budget.
The one troubled spot was in the state’s gambling revenues, which are lagging way behind the 13 percent increase that legislators had assumed in the budget. The real increase is about 3 percent, the budget director said.
The lower gaming revenues are why the governor is sticking with the withheld budget allocations that he announced in June. That money may be released if the state’s income improves.
Luebbering is particularly pleased with September’s increase of 11.6 percent, compared to a year ago, in individual income tax collections. That means more people are working, and more people may be earning more money.
She’s most concerned that sales tax collections are down almost 10 percent for the month of September, compared to a year ago.
Here’s the state’s latest breakdown:
GROSS COLLECTIONS BY TAX TYPE
Individual income tax collections
- Increased 3.7 percent for the year, from $1.25 billion last year to $1.29 billion this year.
- Increased 11.6 percent for the month.
Sales and use tax collections
- Increased 0.8 percent for the year, from $467.1 million last year to $471.0 million this year.
- Decreased 9.9 percent for the month.
Corporate income and corporate franchise tax collections
- Increased 1.5 percent for the year, from $103.5 million last year to $105.0 million this year.
- Increased 3.2 percent for the month.
All other collections
- Increased 30.3 percent for the year, from $106.0 million last year to $138.0 million this year.
- Decreased 19.5 percent for the month.
Refunds
- Decreased 24.5 percent for the year, from $139.7 million last year to $105.4 million this year.
- Decreased 31.8 percent for the month.
