by Jon Styf
Tennessee tax collections released on Friday afternoon were $62.1 million lower than the budgeted estimate and $50.9 million lower than last October.
For the first three months of the fiscal year, done on an accrual basis, Tennessee has collected $108.9 million less than its budgeted estimates.
“October revenues fell short of expectations primarily because of losses in sales tax receipts, reduced corporate tax filings, and depressed realty transfer and realty mortgage tax collections,” Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Jim Bryson said. “Lower collections from each of these taxes represent concerns we have expressed for some time. The sales tax holiday on groceries decreased state collections.”
The single largest collection in the state is sales and use taxes, which were $23 million lower than the budgeted amount for October and are $28.6 million more than budgeted for the first three months of the fiscal year with collections of $3.4 billion. Sales tax collections are up $50.4 million for the fiscal year compared to last year.
“Franchise and excise tax collections were also lower, as more corporate refunds from overpayments were processed during the month,” Bryson (pictured above) said. “Furthermore, real estate transaction taxes, continue to weaken as interest rates remain high.
“We continue to closely watch the current economic environment and will carefully monitor our revenue and expenditure patterns for the balance of this fiscal year.”
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Jon Styf is a staff reporter at The Center Square.
Photo “Jim Bryson” by Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration. Background Photo “Tennessee Capitol” by Andre Porter. CC BY-SA 3.0.
