One-third of the way through the state government’s budget year, Ohio’s tax receipts are running nearly a quarter of a billion dollars ahead of projections.
The bounty sets up a scenario in which the biggest challenge in setting a budget proposal for the next two years could be resisting the natural temptation to spend more, said Tim Keen, director of the state’s Office of Budget and Management.
Through October, taxes collected by the state were running nearly $218 million ahead of projections, OBM data shows.
The two biggest factors for the extra tax receipts are greater-than-expected revenues from sales tax and income tax — both of which are due, in part, to an improving economy, Keen said.
“Clearly the economy continues to grow,” Keen said. “It is producing tax revenues that are consistent with and modestly above the revenue estimates that we have put into place for this forecast.”
Sales tax collections for the state were more than $74.5 million greater than expected.
Collections on sales of automobiles were nearly 30 percent above what was estimated for October, totaling more than $130 million. Collections were $29 million greater than in October 2013.
Income tax receipts were up for a couple of reasons.
As people without jobs found work and those who had jobs found better ones, the tax withholding totals have increased.
And in October, fewer than expected taxpayers claimed a small business income deduction on their individual returns. October was the deadline for taxpayers who sought an extension on their state taxes to file their returns.
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