Missouri state government is seeing an increase in general-revenue income but not enough to cover its budget for the current fiscal year.
That’s the assessment of state Budget Director Linda Luebbering of the state’s latest income numbers, released Thursday.
Since the fiscal year began July 1, general revenue collections are up 3.8 percent compared to the same period a year ago. If that percentage remained throughout the fiscal year, the state would be about $100 million short of meeting its budget, requiring last-minute cuts by Gov. Jay Nixon.
But Luebbering said in an interview that she remains confident that the state could reach the 5.2 percent growth that Nixon’s staff predicts and what would be needed to balance the budget as it stands now.
“We’re a little bit behind of where we need to be,’’ Luebbering said. But she added that budget officials expect the revenue picture to improve in the coming months.
The increase would need to be far higher – about $400 million – for the state to fulfill all of the spending that had been approved by the General Assembly during its last session, she said. Nixon made a sizable number of line-item vetoes, and budget withholds, as a result. (The latter is proposed spending that can be restored if money comes in.)
For the month of September, the percentage increase was slightly lower – 3 percent -- compared to 2014, from $1.95 billion last year to $2.03 billion this year.
Here’s the state’s latest revenue breakdown:
GROSS COLLECTIONS BY TAX TYPE
Individual income tax collections
Increased 5.7 percent for the year, from $1.34 billion last year to $1.42 billion this year.
Increased 1.8 percent for the month.
Sales and use tax collections
Increased 3.6 percent for the year, from $495.1 million last year to $512.8 million this year.
Increased 10.5 percent for the month.
Corporate income and corporate franchise tax collections
Decreased 2.9 percent for the year, from $134.9 million last year to $131.0 million this year.
Decreased 2.2 percent for the month.
All other collections
Decreased 3.2 percent for the year, from $93.2 million last year to $90.2 million this year.
Decreased 16.5 percent for the month.
Refunds
Increased 11.8 percent for the year, from $111.6 million last year to $124.8 million this year.
Decreased 12.4 percent for the month.
