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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

January tax revenues come in very slightly below forecast, but sales taxes up

State tax revenue figures for the month of January are in, and they fell $1.5 million below forecasts, which is about one-half of one percent. For the fiscal year to date, that puts Idaho tax revenues very close to forecasts, at 0.7 percent, or about $14 million below. The revenue figure, $1.85102 billion to date, is up 4.5 percent from last year at the same time.

Sales, individual income and product taxes all beat forecasts for the month, while corporate income taxes came in $4 million short of forecasts. State economists say the most important economic indicator in the data is the sales taxes, because they include the holiday sales from December and traditionally account for the largest monthly share of sales tax collections for the year. For the fiscal year to date, sales tax receipts are $786.4 million, on target with the forecast and 7.2 percent higher than last year; January's sales taxes were 6.5 percent higher than last January's. You can read the Division of Financial Management’s full monthly General Fund Revenue Report here.

Meanwhile, the Legislature’s General Fund Budget Monitor for January notes, “At this point, the final FY 2016 budget picture is beginning to materialize.” It reports that last year at this time, general fund revenue collections were $21 million ahead of the forecast, as opposed to the current $14 million behind; by the end of the fiscal year, the growing surplus resulted in big transfers to the Budget Stabilization Fund and to road projects under last year’s surplus eliminator bill.  

Given revenues to date, the monitor estimates the fiscal 2016 ending balance at $99.5 million, $87.9 million higher than the $11.6 million anticipated when lawmakers adjourned their 2015 session. The biggest differences are an increased revenue forecast and savings from the CAT fund. You can read the Legislative Budget Office’s January Revenue Monitor here.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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