Tag: budget surplus

Arizona Bill Would Require a State Income Tax Cut After Budget Surplus Years

The Center Square

Arizona taxpayers could soon get half of the state’s annual surplus of funds sent back to them as an income tax cut the following year.

The state Senate passed SB 1577 Wednesday afternoon. Sponsored by Chandler Republican Sen. J.D. Mesnard, the bill would require the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to assess state revenue numbers. If the committee certifies an ongoing surplus after accounting for population increases and inflation, the Department of Revenue must cut the individual income tax rate to lower revenue by 50% of that surplus.

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Teachers Union Wants $5 Billion from Minnesota’s Budget Surplus

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The state’s teachers union, a top ally of and donor to Minnesota Democrats, who now control the whole of state government, said it wants a $5 billion chunk of the budget surplus.

Minnesota Management and Budget announced in an economic forecast this week that state lawmakers will have a projected $17.6 billion surplus to work with when crafting a budget for the 2024-2025 biennium next session. That’s up from an estimated $9.2 billion surplus projected in February.

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Minnesota Projects $17.6 Billion Surplus

The Center Square

Minnesota’s Management and Budget estimate a general fund budget surplus of $17.6 billion for the fiscal year 2024-25 biennium.

“Strong collections and lower-than-projected spending add to the FY22-23 surplus,” the agency said. “Economic headwinds lower expected growth but large leftover surplus and healthy net revenues in FY24-25 create estimated $17.6B available for budget.”

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Tennessee Legislature Votes to Grow State Government $3 Billion and 16 Percent More than the Growth of Tennesseans’ Incomes

Laura Baigert
Tennessee Capital building

Members of the Tennessee General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday that acknowledges that the growth in state government this year exceeds the growth of Tennessean’s income by $3 billion, or 16 percent.

The action by the legislature is mandated by the Tennessee Constitution in Article II, Section 24 when state spending grows faster than its economy.

The measure, commonly known as the Copeland Cap, was named for its House sponsor of the constitutional amendment, the late Republican State Representative David Copeland of Ooltewah, who passed away in 2019.

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Minnesota Governor Proposes Using Budget Surplus for Stimulus Checks for Taxpayers

The Center Square

Many Minnesota taxpayers would receive stimulus checks under a bill Assistant Majority Leader State Rep. Dan Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud, introduced Tuesday.

Single filers and married individuals who filed a separate return would receive $500, and married couples filing jointly or individual head of household filers would receive a one-time payment of $1,000. The stimulus checks could start arriving in mailboxes by late summer, a news release from Wolgamott’s office said. 

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Tennessee State Rep. Griffey Files Bill to Repeal Gas Tax

Peter D'Abrosca

A member of the Tennessee State House of Representatives filed a bill Wednesday to repeal the state’s gas tax. 

“The working people of Tennessee are getting hammered by inflation and horrendous energy policy that has caused gas prices to sky rocket! All thanks to the I’m competence of Joe Biden and the Democrats in DC,” Rep. Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) told The Tennessee Star. “Tennessee is currently running monthly budget surpluses is in the hundreds of millions of dollars over projected budgeted revenues. This gas tax repeal is a way to try to help working Tennesseans and all those Tennesseans paying bother prices at the pump.

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Tennessee Finishes 2020-2021 Fiscal Year with a $3.1 Billion Budget Surplus

Laura Baigert

The State of Tennessee finished the 2020-2021 fiscal year with a $3.1 billion surplus in revenues, as compared to the budgeted estimates, Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Butch Eley reported Friday.

After adjusting for the increased revenue estimate of $1 billion recommended by the Funding Board in November 2020 and passed by the General Assembly on April 29, Eley announced total tax receipts for fiscal year 2020-2021 are $2.1 billion more than the budgeted estimates.

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Michigan Projects Multibillion-Dollar Budget Surplus

The Center Square
Michigan State Capitol

Michigan budget officials Friday reached a consensus on revised economic and revenue figures for fiscal years 2021, 2022 and 2023.

The state general fund and school aid revenues will total $26.5 billion for the current budget year, exceeding January estimates by $2.2 billion. For the new budget cycle beginning Oct. 1, the agency projected revenues will total $26.6 billion, $1.3 billion more than January predictions.

A majority of that unexpected cash is a byproduct of billions of spending via stimulus checks and boosted unemployment benefits, which led to a spike in personal spending and increased state tax revenues by billions more than previously forecast.

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Despite COVID Lockdowns, Georgia Revenue Up $2.5 Billion

Cooper Moran

Instead of a predicted deficit, Georgia’s total revenue increased by $2.5 billion, according to a statement released by Governor Brian Kemp’s office.

Many state elected officials predicted significant budget shortfalls due to a partially-closed economy because of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

“Year-to-date, net tax collections totaled $21.74 billion for an increase of nearly $2.51 billion, or 13.1 percent, compared to the previous fiscal year when net tax revenues totaled $19.23 billion after ten months,” the statement read.

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With One Month Remaining in the Fiscal Year, Tennessee’s Budget Surplus Is Now Up To $649 Million

Laura Baigert

  Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Stuart McWhorter announced Wednesday that Tennessee’s June revenues were $92.5 million more than the state budgeted for the month, resulting in a total budget surplus of $649.2 million with just one month remaining in the 2018-2019 fiscal year. The state’s revenue collections of $1.6 billion for the month of June, which is the eleventh month of the year on an accrual basis, were $115.3 million more than collected in June of 2018. McWhorter acknowledged that total revenues in June “were notably higher than expected,” which confirms the strength of the Tennessee economy, he said. Revenues have exceeded the budgeted estimates all 11 months of the current fiscal year, with surpluses ranging from a low of $3.2 million in October 2018 to the high of $258.9 million in April 2019. April’s excess revenues alone account for nearly 40 percent of the year-to-date budget surplus. June’s surplus puts revenues to the state 4.8 percent ahead of the budget and 5.6 percent ahead of this time last fiscal year. The Franchise and Excise Tax plus the Sales and Use Tax make up about 80 percent of the State’s total revenues as well as the budget surplus…

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Ten Months Into the Fiscal Year, Tennessee’s Revenues Exceed Estimates by $556.7 Million

Laura Baigert

  A press release issued Friday by Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Stuart McWhorter announced that Tennessee’s May revenues were $46.3 million more than the state budgeted for the month. Also reported was that total tax collections by the state so far this year exceeded the estimates by more than a half billion dollars. On an accrual basis, May is the tenth month of the 2018-2019 fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30. McWhorter said that the more-than-estimated May revenues demonstrated sound growth over the same period last year. “Both sales tax and corporate tax revenues were the largest contributors to the month’s growth and taken together continued to outperform expectations, as they have for most of the year. All other tax revenues, taken as a group, were also more than the May estimates” reported McWhorter. Despite cuts made in the IMPROVE Act, or 2017 Tax Cut Act, to the Franchise & Excise Tax and Hall Income Tax – which will be fully repealed beginning January 1, 2021 – as well as Sales & Use Tax on food, the highest revenue increases this year come from these taxes. Sales & Use – $257 million or 3.41%…

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Despite Budget Surpluses, Tax Increases Still Debated in Minnesota as May 20 Deadline Looms

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by Bethany Blankey   Joint conference committees continue to hash out differences with the hope of reaching the May 20 deadline and closing a $2 billion gap between conflicting budget priorities. Still up for discussion in the Minnesota legislature are proposed fees on drug distributors and manufacturers to pay for opioid addiction, treatment and prevention, which opponents argue doesn’t address the real issue and would only suppress an industry providing medication to people who need them. Instead of targeting businesses, stricter criminal justice measures should be implemented, they argue. Another is allocating federal money toward securing the voting system, a 20-cent gas tax hike on top of additional spending on transportation projects, extending a 2 percent tax on medical providers, known as the “sick tax,” which is set to expire, in addition to increased spending on healthcare programs at a time when extensive fraud was uncovered by the state auditor’s office. The jobs and energy conference committee is grappling with a statewide family leave program paid for through a new tax on employees and employers, and a Senate spending bill that would block cities from passing and enforcing their own employment ordinances. The bill would likely reverse the Minneapolis ordinance…

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