The reopening of businesses and easing of public gathering restrictions contributed to improved tax collections for Indiana.
The State Budget Agency reported general fund revenues for March totaled $1,161.3 million, which was $29.4 million or 2.6% above the Dec. 16 estimate and $63.7 million or 5.8% above revenue in March 2020.
Monthly collections from sales tax and corporate adjusted gross income tax came in above monthly estimates while monthly collections from individual income tax and other sources such as gaming taxes, insurance and interest came in below monthly estimates, the state said.
As more individual income tax returns and refunds than usual were processed in March, mostly due to the later opening of tax season by the federal government in February 2021 compared to late January in 2020, individual income tax collections came in below the monthly estimate largely due to higher-than expected refunds.
Other report highlights:
- Sales tax collections totaled $646.6 million for March, which is $30.6 million or 5.0% above the monthly estimate and $44.3 million or 7.4% above revenue in March 2020.
- Monthly collections attributable to sales tax excluding gasoline use tax were $28.7 million above the monthly estimate and $49.5 million above prior year actuals.
- Gasoline use tax monthly collections came in $1.8 million above the monthly estimate but $5.2 million below prior year actuals.
- Individual income tax collections totaled $386.5 million for March, which was $12.8 million or 3.2% below the monthly estimate but $200,000 or 0.1% above revenue in March 2020.
- Corporate tax collections totaled $43.4 million for March, which was $28.1 million or 184.1% above the monthly estimate and $18.5 million or 74.2% above revenue in March 2020.
- Riverboat wagering collections totaled $31.3 million for March, which was $4.9 million or 13.5% below the monthly estimate but $4.9 million or 18.6% above revenue in March 2020.
