ATLANTA – Georgia tax collections continued to fall last month, and even the gasoline sales tax failed to lift the state out of the red.
Net tax receipts in February totaled more than $2.03 billion, down 4.3% compared to the same month last year.
Year to date, tax revenues, are up 1.1% compared to the first eight months of fiscal 2023. The increase was driven by the gasoline tax, which was suspended during those months last year. Not counting the gas tax revenues, year-to-date tax collections actually declined by 3.1%.
Individual income taxes fell by 18.9% last month compared to February of last year, with refunds issued by the state Department of Revenue increasing by 53.5% and payments to the state agency declining by 3.1%.
Net sales tax collections bucked the downward trend, increasing by 3.2%.
Typically volatile corporate income tax receipts also rose by 84.4%, as payments to the state shot up by 141.3%.
Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia lawmakers aren’t overly concerned about the red ink. The state has built up a $16 billion surplus during the last three years, allowing the governor and legislature to give state and university system employees and public-school teachers healthy pay raises.
The $36.1 billion fiscal 2025 state budget, which cleared the Georgia House of Representatives last week, increases spending by $3.6 billion – or 11% – over the original fiscal 2024 spending plan the General Assembly adopted last spring.