The fiscal year that ended June 30 was a good one for the state of Ohio, with tax collections in all the major categories ending up above estimates.
The state ended Fiscal Year 2025 with $1.3 billion in surplus funds, with last month’s tax revenues more than 9% above estimates. But that wasn’t a surprise, so it won’t be going into the state’s rainy-day fund.
“Most of the data was known as we were planning and was known going into conference committee,” said Officer of Budget and management director Kim Murnieks. “So the receipts have largely been accounted for in the new fiscal ’26-‘27 biennial budget.”
The biggest driver of the big numbers for June was the $1.1 billion in personal income tax, which was 20.9% above estimates. For the fiscal year, personal income tax was 7.1% over forecasts. Personal income tax brought in $10.4 billion this past fiscal year, compared to $9.5 billion in Fiscal Year ‘24, which is a 9.9% increase.
Murnieks credits Ohio’s low jobless rate for those numbers.
“We remain at or near record employment data. So that contributes to strong personal income tax receipts,” said Murnieks.
Auto sales tax revenue for the month totaled $165.1 million, which was an increase of 8.5% over forecasts. That revenue included tax from sales in months other than June, and tariffs are thought to still be having an impact on sales. For the fiscal year, vehicle sales taxes were 4.4% over estimates.
Sales tax collections were up 3.3% over estimates for June. Total non-auto sales tax revenue was $661.2 million over estimates, which was up 5.8% for the year.
Cigarette taxes for the fiscal year brought in $712 million, 5% less than the previous year. Alcoholic beverage taxes for the fiscal year totaled $60 million, slightly less than Fiscal Year 2024.
No money was transferred to the state’s rainy day fund in this two-year budget cycle. The Budget Stabilization Fund stands at $3.942 billion.
