DALLAS — Lower income tax refunds and higher tax collections helped lift Arkansas' revenues in March about 8% above projections, officials said.
At $386.5 million, total revenues were $40 million or 8.6% above the same month last year and $43.3 million or 7.9% above forecast, according to the report from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.
DFA Director Richard Weiss said the gains offset weak revenue the state had seen earlier this year.
The latest numbers put Arkansas' revenue for the fiscal year that began July 1 $78.2 million above forecast.
Individual income tax collections totaled $246.6 million, which was $27.6 million above March 2013 collections and $22.3 million above forecast. The state paid out $107 million in individual income tax refunds, which was $3.7 million below last year and $10.2 million below forecast.
Sales tax collections totaled $183.1 million, which was $12.6 million above last year and $6.6 million above forecast.
Corporate income tax collections totaled $65.8 million, which was $4 million below last year but $2.8 million above forecast.
A separate report from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's Institute for Economic Advancement showed that Arkansas taxable sales surged in the fourth quarter of 2014, increasing by 2.7% from the previous quarter and up 4.5% from a year earlier.
"With gasoline prices falling by nearly 18% from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, Arkansans were paying quite a bit less to fill their tanks," the report said. The seasonally adjusted dollar-value of gasoline sales fell by 9.1%. Consequently, Arkansas taxable sales including gasoline increased more slowly at 1.8% for the quarter and 3.4% from a year earlier.
With $1.7 billion of tax-supported debt, Arkansas is rated AA by Standard & Poor's and Aa1 by Moody's with stable outlooks. At 1.7% of its personal income, Arkansas's debt is considered low compared to the U.S. median of 2.6%.
