Tax Collections Top Expectations

The News Service of Florida

State general-revenue collections topped projections in September by $215.4 million, with most of the gains coming through sales taxes, corporate income taxes and earnings on investments. The Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research posted a report Wednesday that said net general revenue in September was nearly $3.976 billion. That topped a projection, issued in August, by 5.7 percent. General revenue is closely watched because it plays a key role in funding education, health-care and prison programs. Projections are updated periodically through the year and are used by lawmakers in drawing up a state budget. Sales-tax collections are the biggest part of general revenue and beat the projection for September by $115.8 million, or 4.5 percent. Corporate income taxes were $61.7 million, or 6.9 percent, over the expected amount. Earnings on investments came in $28.6 million or 71.5 percent, more than predicted. General-revenue collections have consistently topped expectations during the past year. But as they have in the past, economists used Wednesday’s report to caution about lagging consumer savings. During the 2018-2019 fiscal year, before the COVID-19 pandemic caused upheaval in the economy, 7.9 percent of personal income went into savings. The new report said Floridians had a “subpar” savings rate of 3.4 percent, “the lowest rate in the last eight months.”