State of Missouri's general revenue on track

An Imo's Pizza employee returns to the entry floor after making a delivery in the Harry S Truman State Office Building in Jefferson City on Monday, Sept. 14, 2020.
An Imo's Pizza employee returns to the entry floor after making a delivery in the Harry S Truman State Office Building in Jefferson City on Monday, Sept. 14, 2020.

Missouri's general revenue collections for August decreased 3 percent compared to this time last year, but the state is still on track to be fully funded, officials said.

The state's August 2021 general revenue was $962.2 million, down $29.4 million from $991.6 million in August 2020.

Net general revenue collections for the fiscal year to date is also down. Collections are down 22.5 percent, from $2.15 billion collected through August of last year to $1.66 billion collected so far this fiscal year.

State Budget Director Dan Haug said August's figures are about what the Office of Administration was expecting and the state is on track to collect the revenue needed to fund the fiscal year 2022 budget.

"The Missouri economy is still performing well and revenues are, even though they're down for the year, they're actually pretty strong when you look at them in the right context," Haug said.

The state's general revenue comparison to last year's data is skewed as a result of changes to tax filing deadlines amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

By moving the April and June tax filing deadlines to July last year, the state collected revenue in a new fiscal year - which has bolstered the 2021 fiscal year figures.

"We knew that July and August would be significantly below last year because of the change in due date," Haug said.

August's comparative decrease in revenue collections is a result of fewer individual income tax collections and fewer corporate income and franchise tax collections.

Individual income tax collections so far this fiscal year have decreased 32.3 percent from last year, declining from $1.71 billion last year to $1.16 billion this year.

A comparison of income tax collections for August indicates a decrease of 14.8 percent.

Corporate income and franchise tax collections also decreased, dropping 64.5 percent so far in the current fiscal year.

So far in fiscal year 2022, $54.2 million has been collected from corporate income and franchise taxes. By this time last year, $152.8 million had been collected.

Collections dropped 25.3 percent for the month.

Missouri is seeing an increase in sales and use tax collections and all other collections, as well as a decrease in refunds.

Sales and use tax collections increased 29.4 percent for the month and 23.9 percent so far this year, from $412.3 million collected by this time last year to $510.7 million so far this year.

Haug said those collections are not affected by the change in tax deadlines, but he doesn't project they will appear high for much longer as spending in the state returned to typical levels around the fall of last year.

All other collections increased 137.5 percent for August and 70.1 percent for the fiscal year.

The state collected $35.8 million through August of last year and has generated $61 million so far this year.

Refunds decreased by .1 percent for the month and by 26.8 percent for the year. The state refunded $167.7 million by this time last year and has refunded $122.7 million so far this year.