At first blush, Missouri’s revenue report that charts a 3% decline in overall state general revenue collections in August compared to July should set off alarm bells.
According to the August 2021 General Revenue Report from Missouri State Budget Director Dan Haug, net general revenue collections for this August was $962.2 million compared to $991.6 million collected by the state in August 2020.
That $30 million dip in revenue follows a similar decrease in July compared to last year. In fact, since Fiscal Year 2022 began July 1, Missouri’s net general revenue collections of $1.66 billion are 22.5% below the $2.15 billion collected by the state this time last year.
But there’s an important quantifier to the numbers, as the state’s Office of Administration notes in the news release accompanying the report.
“Due to the COVID pandemic, the 2020 income tax filing deadlines in April and June were moved to July 15, 2020,” the release states. “Therefore, the comparison of FY21 to FY22 will be negatively impacted throughout FY22.”
Last year’s pandemic-skewered income tax deadline extensions shifted some FY20 tax payments into FY21, contributing to declines in the previous and preceding year revenues collection
The effect of that extension is evident in the numbers for personal and corporate income tax collections, according to Haug’s calculations.
Individual income taxes comprise the largest share of Missouri’s revenue. In August, individual income tax collections were 14.8% below July’s collections, according to the report.
The state has received $1.16 billion in individual income tax payments since July 1, a 32.3% decrease in the $1.71 billion that had been collected during the first two months of Fiscal Year 2021.
Corporate income and corporate franchise tax collections decreased by 25.3% in August compared to July. The $54 million in corporate income taxes collected by the state since July 1 is 64.5% below the $152.8 million collected by this time last year.
The combined decline of about $650 million in income tax collections attributed to last year’s filing extensions are balanced somewhat by significant increases in sales and use tax collections.
According to the report, Missouri sales tax collections increase by 29.4% in August over July. Thus far this fiscal year, the $510.7 million in sales taxes collected is 23.9% higher than the $412.3 million collected by this time last year.
Miscellaneous revenue collections all increased in August – 137.5% over July and 70.1% for the year, from $35.8 million last year to $61.0 million this year.
The state reports a 0.1% decrease in refunds issued in August. Thus far this fiscal year, Missouri has issued $122.7 million in refunds to taxpayers, a 26.8% decrease from the $167.7 million issued by this time last year.
In July, the state’s Office of Administration reported Missouri’s net general revenues in FY21 topped $11.2 billion – a 25% increase over FY20 and nearly $2.6 billion more than the $9.6 billion collected in FY19.
Individual income tax collections were up more than 28% in 2021 because of the pandemic-skewered filing extensions while sales tax collections increased statewide by 6.7% in FY21 compared to FY20.
This article was originally posted on Missouri 3% August revenue dip attributed to 2020 tax-filing extensions