The non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) has provided the much-anticipated look at state tax collections for fiscal year 2019-20, which ended June 30, 2020 (also known as the first year of the current biennial budget). The LFB memo, released today (8/31), states that tax collections were actually up 1.1% over the previous year but still below earlier estimates by 0.6%. This is welcome news and may lessen the need for a budget repair bill this fall.
The increase in tax collections means the state was also able to make an additional deposit in the state’s rainy day fund of $105.9 million which will be helpful in what still appears to be an even more challenging fiscal year 2020-21. The second year of the current state budget, which started July 1, 2020, includes the bulk of funding increases for schools and other programs that were provided in the state’s two-year spending plan.
The LFB memo does not include estimates for fiscal year 2020-21 because, as a practice, the LFB does not publish early estimates in election years.
See the LFB memo here. The state Department of Revenue also released numbers here.
