Missouri state government’s income collections were down in August, but state Budget Director Dan Haug says it’s too early to panic.
A key reason for the decline is that August 2015’s income collections — particularly for the sales tax — were unusually high.
“We were just up against a really good month last year,’’ Haug said Friday. He added that his department will be monitoring state income collections in September closely, because by then state government will have completed a quarter of this fiscal year (FY2017).
Overall, the state’s general revenue income dropped 1.4 percent in August, compared to a year ago. But because July’s numbers were strong, the fiscal-year-to-date collections are up about 2 percent.
Sales tax collections in Missouri in August were down 4.3 percent compared to a year ago, despite the usual spark of back-to-school purchases.
But Haug said he was particularly pleased with the state’s individual income tax collections in August, which were up 5.4 percent compared to a year ago.
That means more Missourians are working, or getting higher pay, Haug said. “That’s good news and speaks to an underlying strength in the Missouri economy and our revenues going forward.”
Here’s the August financial breakdown:
GROSS COLLECTIONS BY TAX TYPE
Individual income tax collections
Increased 5.6 percent for the year, from $907.3 million last year to $958.0 million this year.
Increased 5.4 percent for the month.
Sales and use tax collections
Decreased 0.82 percent for the year from $361.1 million last year to $358.1 million this year.
Decreased 4.3 percent for the month.
Corporate income and corporate franchise tax collections
Decreased 28.7 percent for the year, from $34.0 million last year to $24.3 million this year.
Decreased 16.5 percent for the month.
All other collections
Decreased 36.0 percent for the year, from $64.0 million last year to $41.0 million this year.
Decreased 28.6 percent for the month.
Refunds
Decreased 9.7 percent for the year, from $108.2 million last year to $97.7 million this year.
Increased 33.9 percent for the month.
