AUGUSTA — The King administration’s all-but-final revenue report for fiscal 1999 removes any doubt: The half-penny sales tax cut that the governor and Legislature agreed to for next July 1 would have taken effect this Oct. 1 if he and lawmakers simply left the law alone.

That’s because state revenue, for the second year in a row, grew by more than 8 percent. And surpassing that 8 percent threshold would have automatically triggered the half-cent reduction that has, in effect, been postponed for nine months.

An even bigger boost in revenue that was racked up a year ago did result in an October 1998 sales tax drop. At that time, the tax on purchases went from 6 percent to 5.5 percent.

Now, as a result of this year’s legislation, the rate will be reduced to a flat 5 percent — but not until midway through the year 2000.

In affirmatively acting to lower the tax this time around, Gov. Angus King and state lawmakers took it upon themselves to stipulate their own effective date and repeal the automatic trigger, which was added to state law in 1993.

According to King administration officials, General Fund revenue for the 12 months ending June 30 exceeded revenue for the previous 12 months by more than 9 percent on what is known as a base-to-base comparison.

The 9 percent-plus increase, as sizable as it is, actually falls short of last year’s base-to-base growth in revenue, which topped 10 percent.