State revenues dip slightly

Allen Andrews

Missouri had seen a string of months with revenues at higher-than-predicted levels, but recently received a bit of bad news as revenues for the month of July came in at a level lower than last year.

Missouri collected approximately $506.9 million in revenues last month, which is down from the $512.9 million collected during July 2014.

Fortunately, the decline in revenues is due primarily to a new process put in place by the Department of Revenue to crack down on an issue at the federal level. The new procedure slowed down the refund process and caused many refunds that would have been paid out in June to instead be paid out in July.

Revenues were also down because of lower-than-expected collections of sales tax.

In July 2014, the state collected $150.9 million in sales tax. This July, that figure dropped to $148.2 million. Considering wages continue to increase and job growth continues to be healthy, the slight decline can likely be attributed to Missourians being hesitant to spend more of their earnings.

Being fiscally conservative, I appreciate seeing an increase in consumer savings as it ultimately produces a more robust, economically sustainable consumer and community.

On a positive note, the state saw gross personal income tax collections increase by 5.1 percent.

The state collected $373.4 million in July 2014 and $392.3 million this year.

Corporate income and corporate franchise tax collections also increased by 19.2 percent.

This year’s total collection was $20.6 million, which is up from $17.2 million in July of last year. These figures reflect an increase in personal and corporate income which will hopefully continue to trend higher.

It will always be my aim to limit government intrusion from our homes, farms and businesses to let our people earn, thrive and prosper.