Total taxes collected by the state last month were down, but with four months left in the fiscal year, Ohio’s budget director isn’t concerned.
Preliminary numbers released by the state Office of Budget and Management show auto sales tax receipts for February of $134.3 million were down $4 million or 2.9% from estimates. Non-auto sales tax receipts of $804.2 million were off by $69 million, or down 8%. But income tax collections of $317.6 million were above forecasts by $33 million, or 11.7%.
OBM director Kim Murnieks said she's looking at the numbers for the fiscal year that started in July, and said total tax receipts now exceed the fiscal year-to-date estimate by $648.9 million.
"Receipts for the month of February came in right on target. They were just about $3.3 million above forecast in total for general fund tax revenues," Murnieks said in an interview. "There were some variances across the major categories, but overall, the revenues are solid and the budget looks good."
“February is often a lower revenue month on both the sales and income tax sides, and sales taxes especially can be impacted by things like weather," Murnieks said. "So being a bit below estimate in February is not a concern."
For the fiscal year, overall sales taxes of $9.8 billion are up by $142.2 million or 1.5%. Income tax collections of $7.2 billion are above estimates by $346.5 million, up 5.1%.
Adult use marijuana taxes, a new category this fiscal year, have amounted to $33.8 million since July, which is 6.9% below estimates. But alcohol tax collections at $45.6 million are up by 7.2%. For February, marijuana taxes were up 15.3% and alcohol tax collections were down 32.6%.
"For the smaller categories and for new categories, it can be challenging to estimate," said Murnieks. "We really don't have too much concern about the month to month data. We kind of watch the year-to-date and see where we are and where we'll land as of the end of June."
