State tax collections for the fiscal year that ended June 30 were up nearly 5 percent over the previous year, Gov. Nathan Deal announced Friday.

Georgia brought in net taxes of $16.1 billion, an increase of $742 million after seeing revenues rise by 2.6 percent in June.

"The good news is that we continue to see positive revenue growth in year-on-year comparisons," Deal said. "It reflects our slow and steady economic stabilization after the Great Recession. At the same time, there are indications that we still have a long way to go. We're going to continue to keep a tight lid on spending and prepare a conservative budget for next year."

The state has now seen year-over-year growth in revenues for eight consecutive quarters despite softer than expected collections in the final months of the year.

Individual income taxes actually fell by $1.75 million — or 0.2 percent — in June while net sales tax collections fell 2.2 percent or nearly $10 million.

Corporate income taxes, meanwhile, spiked in June, gaining $43 million or 38.7 percent over June 2011. The gains were largely driven by a 26.2 percent increase in corporate tax payments and a 70.5 percent improvement in tax refunds paid by the state.

June's 2.6 percent increase in revenues follows a 2.1 percent gain in May. But those months were weak compared to the 11 percent growth in April.

While the fiscal year showed growth revenues the previous fiscal year were up 7.8 percent.

Over the past 12 months, individual income tax collections grew 6.3 percent while revenues from net sales taxes were up 4.6 percent.

Corporate income taxes in the completed fiscal year were down 12.1 percent or $81,256,000.