New York State tax collections in the first quarter of the fiscal year were 7.7% ahead of projections.
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced the good news for the state's All Government Funds on Thursday. In April, May, and June New York pulled in $18.7 billion rather than the $17.4 billion that had been anticipated. For the quarter the revenues were $1.332 billion higher than anticipated.
The increase was partially due to higher than projected personal income tax receipts in May and June. These came in $458 million or 7.8% above projections.
In addition, through June 30 business taxes were $762 million above projections. The improved business taxes were almost entirely due to better-than-expected collections from banks, which contributed $678 million more in taxes than they did in April to June of 2013.
In the first quarter, New York also benefited from receiving $785 million in three different settlements. This eclipsed the budgeted expectation of $275 million in settlements for the quarter.
The $785 million in settlements do not include the $2.2 billion the state received on July 20, after the quarter ended, in a settlement with BNP Paribas. The state anticipates receiving more than $1.3 billion in additional settlement money from BNP Paribas.
Also on Thursday, DiNapoli announced that General Fund spending in the first quarter was $638 million or 3.8% lower than expected.
The General Fund closing balance at the end of June was $5.1 billion, which was more than $2.6 billion higher than anticipated in the enacted financial plan.
