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State sales tax collections fall, but revenues up overall Saturday, Nov 3, 2007 By Jason Wiest Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - State revenues rose 1.6 percent in October despite a slight decline in sales tax collections prompted partly by a reduction in the grocery tax, the state reported Friday. Net available general revenues totaled $344.3 million last month, $5.5 million more than in October 2006 and $10.5 million, or 3.1 percent above forecast, the state Department of Finance and Administration reported. "Overall we're still doing pretty well," said John Shelnutt, director of DF&A's Office of Economic Analysis and Tax Research. "We're still running above forecast on a monthly basis and year-to-date." Year-to-date net available revenues totaled $1.48 billion, up $4.3 million, or 0.3 percent, compared to last year. Revenues for the year are $53.6 million, or 3.8 percent, above what revenue officials call a "conservative" forecast. October gross receipts collections, which consist primarily of sales and use taxes, totaled $177 million, down $5.1 million ,or 2.8 percent, compared to last year. The cut in the state's sales tax on groceries from 6 percent to 3 percent and the reduction in the tax on utilities that manufacturers pay affected gross receipts, but no more than fiscal officers expected. Gross receipts were above forecast by $600,000, or 0.3 percent. Both cuts took effect July 1. "There were no big surprises in our impact estimates for the food tax reduction, and at the same time the overall economy is not slowing at a faster rate than we anticipated in the official forecast, so in a big-picture sense, we're in line," Shelnutt said. Individual income tax collections rose $2.2 million to $188.4 million for a 1.3 percent increase over collections in October last year. Income tax collections were $3.1 million, or 1.7 percent, above forecast. Corporate income tax collections totaled $24.8 million, up $2.2 million, or 9.8 percent, from October 2006. Corporate income tax collections were above forecast by 14.7 percent, or $3.2 million. Tobacco tax collections rose 2 percent to $12.4 million in October but were down 1 percent on a year-to-date basis. |
