Georgia revenues fall 14% in May

Tax collections plunged again in Georgia.

State money managers reported on Friday that revenues were down 14.4 percent in May from the same month the year before. That’s a drop of about $212 million.

For the fiscal year that’s set to end June 30, collections are down 10 percent.

The dismal new numbers come as no surprise. Late last month Gov. Sonny Perdue said the state’s economic picture was so grim that many state agencies will lose 25 percent of their funding for June. That’s prompted a showdown with the state’s court system, which argues the deep cuts would bring the judicial system to a halt. Georgia’s fiscal year 2009 budget now stands at $2.8 billion less than what the governor had originally planned to spend.