FRANKFORT, Ky. — State Budget Director John Chilton reported today that October’s General Fund receipts rose 11.5%, or $94.7 million, over last year’s total. Revenues for the month were $920.7 million compared to $826.0 million collected in October 2018. Receipts have increased 3.6% for the first four months of the fiscal year, and can decline 0.7% over the final eight months of FY20 to achieve the official revenue estimate of $11,462.0 million.
Road Fund receipts for October totaled $132.2 million, a 6.9% increase from October 2018 levels. Year-to-date Road Fund receipts have grown 2.5%. Based on year-to-date collections, Road Fund receipts can fall 6.6% and still meet the official FY20 revenue estimate of $1,509.8 million.
Chilton noted that the General Fund gains in October were largely concentrated in three areas – sales and gross receipts, individual income taxes and the lottery dividend payment.
“Consumption-based tax revenues continue to perform well as nearly all gross receipts and excise accounts were up sharply,” Chilton said. “The sales and use tax rose by 9.2% in October and 8.1% thus far in FY20. The sales tax continues to show strength, aided greatly by recent legislation that expanded the base of the sales tax to include additional services as well as extending the imposition of sales tax to an increasing number of online retailers and facilitators. In addition, the individual income tax rose 4.9% on the strength of higher withholding collections. The combination of these factors is welcome news coming off the heels of a September decline in General Fund revenues. The Consensus Forecasting Group met in August and October and will convene again in December to deliver official revenue estimates for Fiscal Years 2020, 2021, and 2022. The current official estimate calls for General Fund growth of 0.6% for FY20. Their official revenue estimate will provide the base for the new budget for FY 2021 and 2022.”
Among the major accounts,
- Combined corporation income and LLET tax receipts rose 28.5%. Year-to-date, these receipts have decreased 5.9%.
- Individual income tax collections rose 4.9% on the strength of withholding receipts. Receipts are up 2.4% for the first four months of FY20.
- Sales and use tax receipts grew 9.2% in October and are up 8.1% for the year.
- Property tax collections rose 4.2% in October but are down 5.5% year-to-date.
- Cigarette tax receipts grew 14.0% in October and are up 3.3% for the first four months of the fiscal year.
- Coal severance tax receipts fell 26.8% to $5.1 million in October. Year-to-date receipts are down 15.8%.
- Lottery revenues grew 77.4% in October due to an unusually large dividend payment that included some residual retained earnings from last fiscal year.
Road Fund receipts grew 6.9% in October as all of the major accounts increased. Year-to-date collections have risen 2.5% compared to the previous year. Motor fuels taxes rose 6.4% in October and are up 2.1% for the year. Motor vehicle usage tax collections grew 2.2% and have increased 4.9% through the first four months of the year. License and privilege revenue rose 24.6% in October but are down 3.8% for the year. Nontax receipts grew 8.2% for the month and are up 9.3% for the year.
Additional information is available at http://osbd.ky.gov/.
Add Comment