The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration on Monday reported March net available general revenue of $519.2 million, up $146.3 million, or 39.2%, from a year ago.
The figure was $138.2 million, or 36.3%, above forecast.
Revenue was above forecast in all major categories. The department reported that individual income tax collection benefited from continued high growth in payroll withholding and payments from income tax returns.
Individual income tax collections totaled $312.2 million, an increase of $25.7 million, or 9%, from last year. Collections beat the projected amount by $80.7 million, or nearly 35%.
Sales tax collections came in at $283.3 million, up $70.6 million, or 33.2%, from the same month a year ago. Collections were above the monthly forecast by $53.6 million, or 23.3%. The department reported that large gains compared to a year ago were affected by the historic snowstorm in 2021 and allowance for the normal one-month lag in vendor reporting. Auto sales tax collections were down 6.8% from a year ago, largely because of the spike in collections that happened in March 2021.
March’s corporate income tax collections, at $6.7 million, were up $2.4 million from March 2021 and $4.3 million above forecast.
Among smaller revenue sources, tobacco was above forecast by about $200,000 but down $1.9 million compared to a year ago. Monthly changes can be attributed to uneven patterns of stamp sales to wholesale purchasers, the department reported. Results in gaming revenue were below forecast for the month by $600,000.
Individual income tax refunds totaled $105.9 million in the month. The amount is $36.3 million lower than last year and $25.4 million above forecast. Combined collections from February and March are close to forecast, the department reported.
Corporate income tax returns in March totaled $6.7 million, up $2.4 million from last year and $4.3 million below forecast.
Fiscal year-to-date net available general revenue was $5.06 billion, 8.4% higher than the same time last year and 9.9% above forecast.
