In some very good news for Pennsylvania’s budget, the Commonwealth saw its fiscal-year surplus grow to $506 million last month.
Better-than-expected collections in April – the second largest revenue month of the year – will likely position the Commonwealth to end the 2010-11 fiscal year with a significant surplus. This could offset some of the deep cuts to K-12 education, colleges, health care and human services that were proposed in the Governor’s 2011-12 budget.
In some very good news for Pennsylvania’s budget, the Commonwealth saw its fiscal-year surplus grow to $506 million last month.
Better-than-expected collections in April – the second largest revenue month of the year – will likely position the Commonwealth to end the 2010-11 fiscal year with a significant surplus. This could offset some of the deep cuts to K-12 education, colleges, health care and human services that were proposed in the Governor’s 2011-12 budget.
Collections in April exceeded estimates by $273 million, according to the Department of Revenue report. Sales tax, personal income tax, and corporate taxes (which account for 90% of the General Fund revenue collected in April) all exceeded estimates by sizable margins.
April normally only trails March in terms of the volume of revenue collections. March General Fund revenues were lackluster – falling $10 million short of estimate. Individuals and many businesses settle their prior year returns in April. With such strong collections for the month, it may be a signal that the economy is recovering faster than had been anticipated.
Want to see the numbers? Check out the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center’s Revenue Tracker.