LOS ANGELES: California revenues of $7.63 billion for March topped projections in the governor’s proposed 2017-18 budget by 23%, according to the state controller’s monthly cash report. Those numbers are expected to soar higher in April, driven by personal income tax receipts when Gov. Jerry Brown’s projections anticipate the state will collect $13.5 billion from income taxes. The state typically does well in revenue collections the closer it gets to the April 15 income tax filing deadline as income tax comprises the state’s biggest source of revenues. Corporation tax and sales tax receipts were also up in March. Personal income taxes accounted for 66.9% of all state General Fund revenues last fiscal year — and 16.9% of those revenues were collected in April, according to the controller’s data. Controller Betty Yee has started an online tracker to show daily PIT receipts through April.
Revenues for the previous March beat projections by $56.5 million, less than one third the $1.73 billion in excess of the forecast last month, according to Yee’s monthly cash report. The state is also ahead on revenues year-to-date, compared with projections in Brown’s budget released in January. Revenues are off for the first nine months of the fiscal year compared with last summer’s projections. Total revenues of $80.91 billion for the first nine months of fiscal year 2016-17 fell $607.3 million below last summer’s budget estimates, though $837.1 million ahead of January’s revised fiscal year-to-date predictions. All three of the state’s major revenue streams beat projections in the governor’s January proposed budget. Personal income tax receipts of $3.93 billion topped projections by nearly 29% coming in $1.04 billion ahead of expectations. Year-to-date, PIT receipts total $54.9 billion or 1.1% more than January’s revised estimate.
Corporation tax receipts of $1.4 billion for March were 29.1% higher than projections in the proposed budget. Fiscal year-to-date corporation tax receipts of $5.2 billion are 9% above projections. March sales tax receipts of nearly $2 billion exceeded expectations by $266.8 million, but sales tax receipts are $346.7 million below estimates coming in at $18.29 billion. Sales tax receipts are the only one, of the three largest revenue sources, to miss projections year-to-date. The state ended March with $22.5 billion in unused borrowable resources, or $3.5 billion more than predicted in the governor’s proposed budget. Outstanding loans totaled $17.87 billion, $304 million lower.
