Arkansas revenue report for March, 2009

We're seeing some slowdown in revenue from sales/use taxes in March here in the state. Collections for the fiscal year, though, are still $63.3 million above forecast and $24.6 million above last year's collections as of this month. The increase is attributed to gains in both Corporate Income Tax and Individual Income Tax.

Collections of net available general revenues for March were $299.5 million. That is 12.7% below March, 2008 and 6.3% below forecast. Gross receipts collections for March, which include sales/use taxes, totaled $172.1 million (about 3.4% below March, 2008 and 3.7% below forecast). Gross receipts are a key indicator of consumer spending, which comprises roughly two-thirds of economic activity.

Individual income tax collections are 1.5% below projections (and 2.8% below March, 2008) and corporate income tax collections are 18.8% above forecast and slightly above March, 2008 levels. Collections of individual income tax came in at $198.1 million, and corporate income tax collections were $49.1 million. One item of note besides the collections is the March revenue from the increased. The tax totaled $8.0 million or 28.7% below March, 2008 levels. However, this change was anticipated since wholesalers purchased a ton of cigarette tax stamps in February ahead of the tax increase.

Click here for the report