August tax collections fall short (from the Kansas Association of School Boards)

State tax collections
again fell below expectations, this time $30.3 million for the month of August.

That is 6.8 percent
below what state officials had earlier projected and keeps the state budget in
a tenuous situation.

Under the current
forecast, the state would have an estimated $50 million in reserve when the
fiscal year ends July 1, 2016.

That is less than 1
percent of state general fund spending of $6.4 billion that has been budgeted
for the fiscal year. In good budget years, the Legislature has kept 7.5 percent
in reserves.

If revenues continue
to underperform, state agencies, including education, could be facing cuts in
order to keep the budget in the black.

The August state
general fund receipts report from the Kansas Department of Revenue also
represents the first month in which the state collected sales taxes at the new
rate of 6.5 percent. Gov. Sam Brownback and Republicans approved an increase
from 6.15 percent during the last Legislative Session.

State sales taxes
were more than $3 million less than expected, or about 1.5 percent.

State officials said
the August tax figures were short because of unexpected corporate and
individual income tax refunds, officials said.

“The state paid out
$22.3 million in unanticipated refunds in the corporate and individual income
tax categories for August, which brought down the overall total,” said Kansas
Department of Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan.

Jordan said one
corporation received a $13.7 million income tax credit. He would not identify
that business.

Since the fiscal year
started July 1, tax collections are running $36 million, or 4.1 percent short
of estimates.

But because the
Brownback administration implemented recent budget changes, such as transfers
of funds from other agencies, the state was about $6.4 million short in August
and $10.8 million for the fiscal year so far.