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DEL.ICIO.USRevenue figures bounced in other states, too, the governor’s top guy tells lawmakers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ed Holcombe, Gov. Sonny Perdue’s chief of staff, sent an e-mail to state lawmakers this week in an effort to disabuse them of any notion that Perdue juggled state revenue figures in order to justify his opposition to a cut in property taxes.
In rejecting the tax cut, Perdue cited a 24 percent decrease in tax collections during April. But in May, after the governor levied his line-item veto, income tax collections jumped 45 percent.
Lawmakers have expressed great suspicion.
Wrote Holcomb:
“Please allow me to assure you that the governor, nor any representative of his office, asked DOR to delay the processing of tax checks.
“Governor Perdue has made it clear that under his administration, DOR will set month-end and year-end dates in advance - no manipulating the dates to come up with some desired result.
“A request has been made of the state auditor to look at the reporting of April and May revenues. We look forward to complying fully with this request.”
Attached to Holcombe’s e-mail was some research committed by the state Department of Revenue, which stated that 13 of the 24 states with personal income tax experienced similar jumps in revenue in May. You can read the entire DOR note on the jump.
To: Bart L. Graham, Commissioner
From: Tax Law & Policy
Date: June 18, 2007
Re: Other States’ 2007 Tax Collections - 28 States Responding
Personal Income Tax Collections
— 13 of the 24 states with personal income taxes (54%) mirrored Georgia with a May revenue increase that was much higher than their April figures, which were generally flat or decreased from the prior year;
— 5 of the 13 states joined Georgia and had an actual decrease in April revenues, ranging from (-2.3%) to (-16.9%), compared to Georgia’s (-24%) drop;
— 12 of the 13 states had double-digit increases in May, ranging from +18.5% to +58.5%, compared to Georgia’s +45.4% May increase.
— 7 of the 24 states (29%) experienced the opposite trend from Georgia, with April revenue increases of up to 17.3%, followed by smaller May gains and 5 states with actual revenue decreases of up to (-26.8%);
— Michigan, although trending opposite from Georgia, noted a processing change that accelerated about $60M of May revenues into April - this year payments attached to extension requests went straight to Michigan’s third party processor for faster deposit;
— Wisconsin also trended opposite from Georgia, but Wisconsin kept their April books open through the end of the first week in May, substantially increasing April revenues; and
— Of the 6 remaining states for which we had collection data, 2 showed similar revenue increases in both April and May, and 4 have no personal income tax.
Total Revenue Collections
— 12 of the 24 states that provided data on total collections (50%) mirrored Georgia with a May revenue increase that was significantly higher than their April gains;
— 5 of the 12 states joined Georgia and had an actual decrease in April total tax revenues, ranging from (-1.3%) to (-11.2%), compared to Georgia’s (-2.0%) drop;
— 11 of the 12 states had double-digit increases in May, ranging from +10.4% to +67.0%, compared to Georgia’s +27.9% May increase.
— 8 of the 24 states (33%) trended opposite to Georgia with April gains in total tax revenues that were greater than their May gains, or even May decreases from the prior year;
— Note again that although Michigan and Wisconsin trended opposite from Georgia, there were processing changes or booking methods that caused most of the difference; and
— Of the remaining 6 states that responded, 2 had generally similar increases in both their April and May total revenue collections from prior periods, and 4 have not yet provided their May total revenue figures, although personal income tax figures were available.
Sources
— Information was gathered through the web site of the Federation of Tax Administrators (“FTA”), as well as direct contacts with other states’ departments of revenue. All of the information used is publicly available.
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