State tax collections were up 2.1 percent in March, the third relatively slow-growth month in the last four.
That was largely because the sales tax take was flat and corporate income tax collections plummeted for the fourth consecutive month.
State officials blamed the 46.1 percent drop in corporate tax collections, in part, on the IRS moving the filing deadline from March 15 to April 15. That could mean the state will see a flood of corporate tax money this month.
Individual income tax collections were up 20.2 percent in March over March 2016. By contrast, the net income tax take was down in February in part because the state was putting out refunds faster than the previous year.
Those refunds in March didn’t necessarily bump up spending on taxable goods much. The state took in about the same amount in sales taxes as it did last March.
Overall, collections are up 3.5 percent, or $530.8 million, for the first three quarters of fiscal 2016, which ends June 30.
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