March 1, 2019

February State Revenues Only $2.5 Million Less Than Anticipated

On March 1, the Department of Revenue reported Pennsylvania collected $2 billion in General Fund revenue in February, which was $2.5 million, or 0.1 percent, less than anticipated.
Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $20.2 billion, which is $287.4 million, or 1.4 percent, above estimate.
Since the start of the 2018-19 fiscal year, overall tax revenue is $1.1 billion, or 5.7 percent, more than was collected in the same period of the last fiscal year.
Sales tax receipts totaled $760.3 million for February, $11.2 million above estimate. Year-to-date sales tax collections total $7.4 billion, which is $211.6 million, or 2.9 percent, more than anticipated.
Personal income tax (PIT) revenue in February was $888.7 million, $18.3 million below estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $8.3 billion, which is $368 million, or 4.3 percent, below estimate.
February corporation tax revenue of $116.4 million was $38.5 million above estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $1.9 billion, which is $339.9 million, or 21.6 percent, above estimate.
Inheritance tax revenue for the month was $79.1 million, $5.6 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $677 million, which is $13.1 million, or 1.9 percent, below estimate.
Realty transfer tax revenue was $24.1 million for February, $11.5 million below estimate, bringing the fiscal-year total to $343.9 million, which is $25.6 million, or 6.9 percent, less than anticipated.
Other General Fund tax revenue, including cigarette, malt beverage, liquor and gaming taxes, totaled $142.3 million for the month, $3.8 million above estimate and bringing the year-to-date total to $1.2 billion, which is $5.8 million, or 0.5 percent, above estimate.
Non-tax revenue totaled $30.7 million for the month, $20.7 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $405 million, which is $136.8 million, or 51 percent, above estimate.
In addition to the General Fund collections, the Motor License Fund received $216.1 million for the month, $21.4 million below estimate. Fiscal year-to-date collections for the fund — which include the commonly known gas and diesel taxes, as well as other license, fine and fee revenues — total $1.8 billion, which is $78.3 million, or 4.2 percent, below estimate.