State Revenues Down

The Department of Administrative Services has issued its monthly report on state revenues, and it's not pretty. For much of the past year, policy makers have been blaming the national economy for the growing budget deficit, when in fact revenues were up over the year before. Now, revenues are actually declining from a year ago, and not coming close to the large annual increases written into the budget by the Legislature.

The General and Education Funds are $21.4 million short of projections, while the Highway Fund has taken in $900,000 less than planned.

Tom Fahey details the year to year comparisons in the Union Leader.

A report yesterday from the Department of Administrative Services showed that business taxes were off by $78 million from July through December. Last month alone saw them come in $20 million below expectations.

The business profits and business enterprise taxes produced $220 million through six months, $54 million less than they brought in a year earlier.

Tax collections of $855 million so far this fiscal year are $59 million, or 6.5 percent, below what the state took in last year.