LANSING – States across the country are largely showing continued improvement in their overall fiscal condition for the current 2011-12 fiscal year, a report from the National Conference of State Legislatures shows, with Michigan reporting a bit of a mixed picture on its performance.

According to the report, Michigan is saying income tax collections are less than forecast, largely because of the time of tax refunds. However, sales tax and corporate income taxes are running ahead of projections.

Michigan is also listed as one state it projects will finish the fiscal year with a positive un-obligated budget balance of more than 5 percent. Governor Rick Snyder is projecting use of $500 million towards the 2012-13 budget, the report said.

But the news among all the states is not universally good, with a small number of states reporting budget shortfalls this year.

The report, issued annually by the NCSL, said 28 states were seeing income tax collections come in above forecasts or had increased their forecasts because of collections.

However, 14 states said income tax collections were coming in below forecasts, including Michigan, which had raised its initial forecast of income tax revenues.

According to the NCSL, the state blamed the lower collections on income tax refunds being filed earlier than normal. Otherwise, the NCSL said Michigan officials reported that income tax withholdings and estimated payments were roughly on target.

As part of a massive tax change, Michigan extended the income tax to cover retirement income, and has also done away with virtually all tax credits, which would affect year-to-year collection estimates.

Michigan is listed as one of 23 states that saw sales taxes collected above forecasts, and one of seven states, as well as the District of Columbia, that had raised its forecast on sales tax collections. Another 16 states reported sales tax collections coming in as projected, and just six said collections were below forecasts.

In terms of corporate income taxes, the report listed Michigan as one of 22 states that saw those revenues coming in ahead of projections, as well as one of nine states that that had raised its projections for corporate taxes.

Michigan, of course, replaced its reviled Michigan Business Tax last year with the new Corporate Income Tax. That tax is projected to bring in less revenue to the state than the MBT, even if collections are running ahead of estimates.

The report also said Michigan is not expected to return to its peak revenue performance until the 2017-18 fiscal year. In fact, adjusted for inflation, Michigan revenues in the 2011-12 fiscal year would be $500 million less than revenues collected in the 1967-68 fiscal year, it said.

However, the report also said there are no areas in the 2011-12 budget that Michigan was spending significantly more than it had budgeted for.

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