PROVIDENCE – General revenue collections in Rhode Island totaled $278 million in May, a 14.4 percent increase year over year, according to a R.I. Department of Revenue report Wednesday.
The increase was largely attributable to an increase in personal income tax and lottery transfer collections. Personal income taxes in May totaled $91.2 million for the month, a $17.6 million, or 23.9 percent, increase from May 2017.
Lottery transfer collections totaled $45.3 million in May, a $13.4 million increase year over year. This significant variance in the lottery transfer was due to the transfer of $13.4 million of lottery revenue in May that would normally be transferred in June.
Sales and use tax collections totaled $84 million in May, a 4.1 percent increase from May 2017. Departmental receipts totaled $17.2 million for May, compared with $17.1 million in May 2017.
Fiscal year to date in May, state collections totaled $3.3 billion, compared with $3.1 billion one year prior, reflecting a 6.8 percent year-over-year increase.
Collections of personal income tax, sales and use taxes, departmental receipts and lottery transfer all increased between 3.8 and 9.2 percent fiscal year to date in fiscal year 2018.
Personal income tax collections totaled $1.2 billion, compared with $1.1 billion in the same fiscal 2017 period, a 9.4 percent increase. Sales and use tax collections totaled $954 million, a 5.1 percent fiscal-year-to-date increase. Departmental receipts totaled $346.1 million, an increase of 3.8 percent from the previous year, and lottery transfer collections totaled $317.5 million, a 5.1 percent increase from the first 11 months of fiscal 2017.
“The sizeable increase in general revenue cash collections on a fiscal year-to-date basis reflects the change in the estimated payments schedule for business corporation, financial institutions, insurance company gross premiums, bank deposits, and public utilities gross earnings taxpayers from a 40 percent of 2018 tax liability estimated payment due in March 2018 to a 25 percent of 2018 tax liability estimated payment due in April 2018,” R.I. Department of Revenue Director Mark A. Furcolo stated. In addition, he said, “included in the FY 2018 year-to-date through May figure are $21.5 million of tax and interest payments received from the 2017 Tax Amnesty Program.”
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
