NASHVILLE – Another month and more surplus tax money is flooding into Tennessee government coffers – an additional $129.4 million in January, or almost 12% more than anticipated, according to Gov. Bill Lee’s administration.
During January, total tax collections came to $1.55 billion, due primarily to strong growth in state sales taxes and corporate taxes, according to state Finance Commissioner Stuart McWhorter.
He said in a news release Friday that adjusted second quarter growth on sales activity was 6.14% over the last fiscal year? It was “driven by solid performances in retail and manufacturing sales,” McWhorter noted.
Corporate franchise and excise taxes, often difficult to predict on a monthly basis, soared 23.8% over projections.
“The economic growth we have experienced in these first six months puts the state in a good position to fund the current and upcoming fiscal years,” McWhorter said, noting year-to-date total tax collections are outpacing estimates by 6.48%, which the commissioner said “signals a promising finish” for the 2020 fiscal year.