DOR: Cash collections increase fiscal YTD in December 2.5%

PROVIDENCE – Cash collections increased 2.5 percent in the first six months of the fiscal year compared with the prior fiscal year period despite a decline in lottery transfer payments, the state Department of Revenue said this week.
The DOR said the 5.2 percent decline in lottery transfer was expected due to the onset of casino gaming in Massachusetts in June.
Cash collections totaled $1.71 billion, compared with $1.67 billion during the same year-ago fiscal period. Collections were boosted by gains in personal income tax and sales and use tax, at 2.9 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively. Departmental receipts fell 2.9 percent, while other general revenue sources grew 13.2 percent.

Acting Director of Revenue Marilyn S. McConaghy noted that fiscal 2016 total general revenue cash collections through December were $42 million ahead of last fiscal year at this time.
The agency blamed the shortfall in departmental receipts cash collections on a change in how checks issued by the state that remain uncashed are treated. Previously, these checks were deposited as general revenue in June of the fiscal year. But beginning in fiscal 2016, checks that were deemed to be unclaimed property were moved from miscellaneous departmental receipts to the unclaimed property program.
For the month of December, cash collections fell 3.5 percent to $292 million compared with $302.6 million in December 2014. Personal income tax decreased 12.6 percent, and lottery transfer payments fell 6.2 percent, largely due to decreased revenue from video lottery terminals at Twin River Casino in Lincoln, while departmental receipts grew 5 percent and all other general revenue sources climbed 22.6 percent, the DOR said. Business corporations tax cash collections of $8.5 million and cigarettes tax cash collections of $1.7 million helped the other revenue sources category grow in December, the DOR said.

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