Kansas Democrats still have concerns for the overall shortfall of the year despite state revenue figures for March announced today that narrowly missed the projections.
The state Department of Revenue announced today that corporate, sales and use taxes reversed several months of weaker-than-expected receipts and total taxes were $1.7 million below, or 99.63 percent of estimates. Individual income tax receipts – while $6.9 million more than March 2014 – fell short of projections by $14.4 million, the department stated in a news release.
Total tax receipts for the fiscal year through March are $4.1 billion or $81.3 million below estimates, which is $53.1 million more than the previous fiscal year-to-date, according to the state’s news release.
“After a weak month in February, withholding rebounded in March but not quite as strongly as anticipated,” said Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan in the news release. “While corporate income, sales and use tax receipts are up, oil severance payments are down. It is a trend that is contributing to a sluggish economy in many rural counties which depend heavily on oil and commodities.”
“More will have to be done when the Legislature reconvenes in late April to balance the budget and chart a new, fiscally responsible and sustainable path forward,” Rep. Burroughs said in a statement.
“The budget deficit is only a single symptom of what is an increasingly unhealthy economy in our state. Looking at other economic indicators, we see Kansas families struggling to improve their quality of life. Job growth is well below the national average, workers’ wages remain stagnant, and families are paying record high sales taxes for basic necessities like food and clothing.”