May State Revenues Bring Year-To-Date Collections $2.9 Billion Over Estimates

On June 1, the Department of Revenue reported Pennsylvania collected $3.9 billion in General Fund revenue in May, which was $1.6 billion, or 65.4 percent, more than anticipated as a result of moving the tax deadline to May 17. 

Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $36.6 billion, which is $2.9 billion, or 8.5 percent, above estimate.

“In addition to this expected shift (in deadline), the PIT revenue that we collected in May went well beyond making up for the PIT shortfall from April,” said Revenue Secretary Dan Hassell, noting that PIT revenue in April was $571.8 million below estimate. “We are also nearly $2.9 billion above our estimate for the fiscal year as of today. This is very positive news with one month to go in the current fiscal year.”    

Secretary Hassell added that the current outlook on revenue collections is attributable to stronger-than-expected collections in nearly every tax type. This continues a positive trend from recent months as Pennsylvania’s economy rebounds from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Independent Fiscal Office also issued its May revenue collection report and since it uses different revenue projections, came up with a year-to-date surplus of $1.6 billion.  Read more here.

Here is the Department of Revenue’s breakdown of revenue collections:

Sales tax receipts totaled $1.2 billion for May, $211.8 million above estimate. Year-to-date sales tax collections total $11.6 billion, which is $741.7 million, or 6.8 percent, more than anticipated.

Personal income tax (PIT) revenue in May was $1.9 billion, $1.0 billion above estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $14.9 billion, which is $747.7 million, or 5.3 percent, above estimate.

May corporation tax revenue of $430.1 million was $163.7 million above estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $5.6 billion, which is $892.2 million, or 18.9 percent, above estimate.

Inheritance tax revenue for the month was $136.0 million, $53.5 million above estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $1.2 billion, which is $216.5 million, or 21.1 percent, above estimate.

Realty transfer tax revenue was $56.9 million for May, $14.8 million above estimate, bringing the fiscal-year total to $575.1 million, which is $95.5 million, or 19.9 percent, more than anticipated.

Other General Fund tax revenue, including cigarette, malt beverage, liquor and gaming taxes, totaled $191.0 million for the month, $24.5 million above estimate and bringing the year-to-date total to $1.6 billion, which is $132.3 million, or 9.1 percent, above estimate.

Non-tax revenue totaled $57.7 million for the month, $45.6 million above estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $1.1 billion, which is $42.8 million, or 4.0 percent, above estimate.

In addition to the General Fund collections, the Motor License Fund received $236.2 million for the month, $3.1 million below estimate. Fiscal year-to-date collections for the fund – which include the commonly known gas and diesel taxes, as well as other license, fine and fee revenues – total $2.6 billion, which is $17.6 million, or 0.7 percent, below estimate.