March Collections Disappoint in Arkansas

Anemic collections from income tax and sales taxes brought Arkansas' March state revenues below last year's numbers and less than expected in the latest official forecast.

Net available revenues totaled $346.4 million last month, the Department of Finance and Administration said last week.

"Results were mainly driven by the combination of rebound in income tax refunds this month and collections below forecast and below year-ago levels in the two largest sources of general revenue," said John Shelnutt, the state's chief economist.

March collections were $10 million below last year's totals and $15 million less than projected. Sales tax revenues, which have been flat for several months, dipped by $2 million to $170.5 million in March, off $9 million from the forecast adopted in November 2012.

Collections from the individual income tax totaled $219 million, down $3 million from March 2012 and $6.6 million less than expected.

Net revenue of $3.5 billion in fiscal 2013 is $156 million more than the first nine months of fiscal 2012 and $84 million more than projected.

The 2013 total includes $1.6 billion from the sales tax, $20.5 million below the forecast.

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