July revenue boon laid to one-time factors

AUGUSTA – Preliminary reports show that state government accumulated an unanticipated $5.2 million in revenue during the first month of the new fiscal year, but tax officials believe special factors account for much of that amount.

Tentative July figures put individual income taxes above projection for the month by $10.4 million, or 17.4 percent.

The other major tax line, however, fell short of budget.

Sales tax revenue was below projection by $3.9 million, or 5.1 percent.

Additionally, other lines failed to meet expectations.

Corporate income tax revenue was under estimate by $1.9 million, or 47 percent. Estate tax revenue was more than $1.4 million short of budget for the month, coming in at negative 64.1 percent.

Overall, buoyed by the individual income tax, July revenue was tentatively pegged at $163.5 million, 3.3 percent ahead of projections.

Contributing to the positive variance was higher than estimated revenue from cigarette and tobacco taxes, which were above budget by nearly $1.2 million or 20.1 percent.

Analyst Michael Allen of Maine Revenue Services, the state’s tax department, said Friday much of the July overage in individual income tax revenue can be attributed simply to the timing of quarterly withholding payments and does not represent a lasting departure from forecast.

“Every quarter we end up with this problem,” he said.

Similarly, Allen said special circumstances surrounding a $2.5 million sales tax refund had only temporarily inflated revenue on that line, leaving effective sales tax revenue that much closer to its projected level.

As to the corporate income tax shortfall, Allen merely said: “Corporations aren’t doing very well right now.”

Earlier this month, the King administration reported that state revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30 topped projections by $32.6 million.

That included a shortfall in the sales tax line for the year of $5.2 million, or 0.6 percent.

Corporate income tax revenue was under budget for the year by $17.9 million, or 15.7 percent.

Driving the year-end surplus was individual income tax revenue. While under budget in June by $1.1 million, it still exceeded projections for the year by $45.8 million, or 4.1 percent.

The 2000 tax year, said Allen, “was stronger than people realized.”