General Fund, School Aid Fund Revenues Exceed Expectations, Down Overall

LANSING – Overall tax collections were approximately $99.3 million above the level expected by the Senate Fiscal Agency for the month of June based on its May consensus revenue estimates, a monthly revenue report concluded on Wednesday, but the $1.8 billion total collected taxes for the General Fund and School Aid Fund were down about 0.5 percent from year-ago levels.

As occurred with May collections, greater-than-expected revenue from the sales tax, Michigan Business Tax, and individual income tax accounted for most of the above-forecast revenue, the report said.

General Fund collections were $74.42 million above the level expected for June, while School Aid Fund tax collections were $19.8 million above the forecasted level, it said. The remaining $5.2 million in unanticipated collections was directed to other funds, particularly constitutional revenue sharing.

Corporate Income Tax collections totaled $83.6 million, while revenue under the Single Business Tax totaled a negative $9.7 million. And although revenue from the repealed MBT totaled a negative $23.2 million in June, the MBT revenue was still $30.2 million above the expected level.

Net individual income tax revenue totaled $795.5 million in June 2013, up 7.3 percent from June 2012. Withholding payments were 3.0 percent above the year-ago level and $33.9 million above the predicted level.

Sales tax receipts totaled $586.6 million in June, up 1.8 percent from June 2012. In contrast, use tax collections were up 8.1 percent from June 2012. Year-to-date, sales tax collections are up 1.9 percent from last year, while use tax collections are 5.6 percent higher, according to the report.

Finally, real estate transfer tax collections were down 11.2 percent from June 2012, the first year-over-year decline since October 2012 and the most rapid decline since March 2012. Despite the June decline, year-to-date real estate transfer tax collections are up 44.4% from last year, the report said.

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