California revenue surpasses expectations

California’s total revenues of $8.02 billion for March were higher than estimates in the governor’s 2018-19 proposed budget by 6.0 percent, and above 2017-18 Budget Act projections by 10.8 percent, state Controller Betty T. Yee reported Tuesday.

“Higher revenue received is the main factor that contributed to the corporation tax beating estimates,” said Taryn Kinney, press secretary for the State Controller’s Office, “for the month of March, actual corporation tax receipts are approximately $530 million higher and actual corporation tax refunds are $5 million lower than anticipated in the Governor’s Budget.”

The total revenue for 2017-18 fiscal year for the first nine months for California reached $89.1 billion, which was $5.39 billion higher than the enacted budget originally estimated. It may be due to the“big three” sources of California’s General fund; personal income tax, corporation tax, retail sales and usage tax, exceeding the projections for the fiscal year.

The personal income tax revenue, or PIN, for the fiscal year was $3.17 billion more than originally projected in the 2017-2018 Budget Act. However, the month of April is usually the busiest filing period, due to the April 17 tax filing deadline.

“We will be watching closely as April is a pivotal phase for the state’s financial outlook,” said Kinney. “Last fiscal year, 15.4 percent of personal income taxes arrived during the month of April.”

This year, as of the end of March, the Personal Income Tax revenues totaled $61.9 billion for the 201718 fiscal year, which is 3.1 percent higher than anticipated in the governor’s proposed budget, according to Kinney.

Corporation taxes for March, $1.31 billion, were $549.2 million, or 72.4 percent, higher than forecasted in the governor’s proposed budget. This variance is largely because receipts were about $530 million more than anticipated. For the fiscal year to date, total corporation tax receipts are 32.5 percent above assumptions in the 2017-18 Budget Act.

For the fiscal year, sales tax receipts are $410 million higher than the enacted budget’s expectations.

Even the cost of California’s loans have seemed to drop. Outstanding loans of $11.84 billion were $5.18 billion less than expected in the governor’s proposed budget and $6.43 billion less than 2017-18 Budget Act estimated the state would need by the end of March. The loans were financed entirely by borrowing from internal state funds.