Even with a forecast revised to reflect improving state tax take this year and an income tax cut taking effect this month, the monthly report on Arkansas revenue shows it’s still pouring in ahead of expectations.
Gross revenues for the first six months of the fiscal year were 5.4 percent ahead of last year at this time and 1.5 percent more than the revised forecast. The net revenue — the amount on which the state budget is figured — is $52.1 million above the forecast, creating new surplus atop money already socked away in reserve accounts and still allowing for income tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy.
Sales taxes, a key economic indicator, are up 11.7 percent compared with the same period last year and almost 1 percent ahead of the revised forecast. The sale tax accounted for $1.6 billion of the $3.9 billion in gross revenues in the first six months of the year.