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March Tax Revenue Lower Than Expected in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is facing a $2 billion budget deficit, so state revenue officials are hoping coffers stay strong until the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

March revenues, however, were lower than expected, according to Department of Revenue Spokeswoman Elizabeth Brassell. In March, the state collected $4.3 billion in General Fund revenue, 0.2 percent less than anticipated.

“So that brings us, fiscal year to date, collections of about $21.7 billion; $368 million or 1.7 percent above estimate,” said Brassell.

And she said March is one of the biggest collection months of the year, and being less than one percent below projections is not of concern. She says the state also has April to look forward to. That’s when the bulk of personal income tax revenue comes in. Brassell said being slightly ahead of estimates for this point in the fiscal year is good, since there are expected revenue sources that had been projected that won’t come through.

“One of them was some licensing fees from a new casino, and we had paid more refunds than we were counting on, so there are just some revenue streams that we know are not going to come in and we’re going to have to make up for in other areas,” she said.

Sales taxes, personal income taxes and corporation taxes all came in above projections in March; revenue from the inheritance and realty transfer taxes was below projections. Other General Fund tax revenue, including cigarette, malt beverage, liquor and table game totaled $66.6 million for March, non-tax revenue totaled $59.6 million for the month.