New York State Revenues Disappoint

New York state government tax collections in February were down 5.6% compared with February 2012, according to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's office.

"Despite positive signs in the economy, we are still not seeing the strength in tax collections that would indicate robust growth," DiNapoli said. "Receipts were up in December and January, primarily because of federal tax changes. February's decline illustrates that trend will likely not continue. As the new budget is finalized, efforts should focus on enacting a spending plan that recognizes this reality."

New York's current fiscal year will end Sunday and the new one will start Monday. As of March 26, the state legislature was working on a new budget.

Even as February's collections came in low, collections through the fiscal year are up 2.6% above those of the last fiscal year through February 2012.

At the end of February the general fund had a balance of $7.4 billion, $11.2 million lower than the latest projection.

The New York division of the Budgetprojects that general fund spending in the current fiscal year will exceed initial projections by $507 million. Most of the excess will be due to spending in March, staff at DiNapoli's office reported. One factor is a $183 million debt service payment that has been moved from April to March.

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