Arkansas Revenues Up in March, Ahead of Forecast

Arkansas’ revenues in March were ahead of last year and beat official projections, as the state saw increases in nearly all major tax collections, the state’s finance office said on April 3.

The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration said net available revenues totaled $356.3 million last month. That’s $40.5 million above March 2011 and $42.4 million above forecast. The state’s fiscal year-to-date revenues total $3.3 billion, which is $94.7 million above last year and $62.6 million above forecast. Arkansas’ fiscal year begins July 1.

Department Director Richard Weiss said the state isn’t planning to adjust its forecast upward because of the increased revenues, but said he believes it shows the state is slowly recovering from the economic downturn.

“It looks to me like it’s a continuation of slowly coming out of the recession,” Weiss told reporters. “Things are slowly getting stronger overall. We’re still cautious about it. We’re not ready to declare victory at this point by any means.”

All of the state’s major tax collections beat last year’s figures and nearly all of them beat the forecast. Sales tax collections totaled $174.7 million, which is $8.2 million above last year and $2.9 million above forecast

Individual income tax collections totaled $221.8 million, which is $18.8 million above last year and $15.5 million above forecast. Corporate income tax collections totaled $59.7 million, which was $1.6 million above last year and equal to the amount forecast for the month.

Despite the increased collections, Weiss said state officials are closely watching the state’s sales tax collections. Sales tax collections for the fiscal year so far, which total $1.5 billion, are $26.1 million above last year but $22.2 million below forecast.

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