Pennsylvania’s year-to-date revenue collections are $160.2 million, or 1.8%, below budgeted revenues, with sluggish personal income tax and sales tax receipts accounting for most of the revenue gap.
The state has collected $8.8 billion of general fund revenue from July through October, the Department of Revenue said. Of that amount, the state received $3.5 billion last month, which is $19.5 million, or 0.6%, below prior estimates. Sales tax and personal income tax collections for the year have come in $89.3 million and $84.2 million under budget, respectively. Conversely, corporate tax receipts are $7.8 million above earlier projections.
The legislature could take up a table games bill this week that would allow casinos and racetracks to begin offering blackjack and roulette and would generate roughly $200 million of new revenue for the state.
Gov. Edward Rendell signed a fiscal 2010 budget last month with the expectation that lawmakers would pass a table games bill soon after. The bulk of the revenue derived from table games would go towards higher education spending in the current budget. Fiscal 2010 began July 1.