March Revenue Collections Up Nearly 14 Percent
State House News Service
       State tax collections totaled $1.557 billion in March, an increase of $187 million or almost 14 percent over March 2004, state revenue officials announced Friday. Fiscal year to date, tax revenues total $11.913 billion, an increase of $759 million or 6.8 percent over the same period last year.
       All tax types were up in March except sales and use taxes, which Revenue Commissioner Alan LeBovidge said “remain rather flat.” Income tax collections received a boost from changes in the timing of bonus payments and the receipt of an “unusually large estate tax payment.” Income tax collections for March totaled $478 million, a 19 percent increase from last March. Withholding tax collections were up 9.2 percent from last March, totaling $669 million. Corporate and business tax collections were $643 million. Sales and use taxes were down $1 million, totaling $281 million.
       Tax collections are running $262 million above a budget benchmark revised last October. "With year-to-date collections well above benchmark, this bodes well for the end-of-fiscal-year results," said LeBovidge.