Revenue Decline Rolls On

State revenue collections for October totaled $1.38 billion, a decrease of $1.13 million, or 0.1%, over the same month last year, the Georgia Department of Revenue announced.

Through the first four months of fiscal 2009, net tax collections totaled $5.5 billion, a decrease of $111 million, or a 2% decline over the same period in fiscal 2008. Sales and use taxes, one of the only categories with an upswing for fiscal 2009, showed a net increase of $25 million, or 1.3%, over the same period last year. 

Corporate income tax collections decreased $47 million, or 17.8%. Tobacco tax collections were down $2 million. Motor fuel tax collections reported a decrease of $15 million, or 4.6%, compared to fiscal 2008.

Motor vehicle taxes totaled $96 million, a decrease of $2 million. Titles from newly owned vehicles totaled 130,000 in the first four months of 2008, which was 43,000 fewer than those titled in the same period last year.

The state faces a $1.6 billion budget gap with only $259.3 million in the revenue shortfall reserve, also known as the rainy-day fund — and the deficit could go as high as $2 billion, according to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. .

Gov. Sonny Perdue has instructed state agencies to cut spending 6% but expectations are that additional cuts will be necessary.

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