Tennessee ends budget year with $42M surplus

Arkansas-Tennessee Live Blog

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The state has finished the budget year with a $42 million general fund surplus.

Tennessee collected $342 million more than originally projected by the State Funding Board for the 2012-2013 budget year, but the panel revised that prediction upward by $306 million in December. Collections still came out above those estimates.

Over the course of the budget year, sales taxes grew by 1.8 percent and corporate taxes increased by 9 percent.

Gov. Bill Haslam's office did not immediately respond to questions about what he planned to do with the extra money. The Republican's administration chose to bank most of the $333 million surplus the state collected last year, despite calls by Democrats to use the money to defray tuition increases or reduce the state's sales tax on groceries.

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