Pre-election good news for Georgia: take suggests strong economy

Gov. Nathan Deal on Monday announced some good pre-election news for Georgia’s economy and budget: a pickup in income and sales tax collections for October.

Overall state tax collections were up 8.6 percent in October, or about $140 million. For the fiscal year which began July 1, they are up 4.8 percent.

Typically state officials see rising income and sales tax collections as a sign that the economy is doing well because it can mean Georgians are earning and spending more.

State income tax collections were up 10.1 percent in October, and net sales taxes were up 4 percent.

Those numbers come after less-than-overwhelming collections during the first three months of the fiscal year.

The tax take fuels the state’s nearly $24 billion budget, which helps pay to educate more than 2 million students, to supply more than 2 million Georgians with health care, and to fund a host of other things ranging from the state patrol, parks and prisons to road construction.

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