Social distancing and other measures to limit public interaction during the coronavirus crisis has led to Indiana state tax collections falling short for March.
The Indiana State Budget Agency reported general fund revenues for March totaled $1,097.6 million, which is $70 million or 6% below estimates forecast in December and $51.7 million or 4.5% below revenue in March 2019.
Despite March revenues falling short, the state said year-to-date general fund collections continued to run ahead of December projections. The state said revenues collected between January and March totaled $11,400.5 million, which was $33.5 million or 0.3% above December projections and $452.9 million or 4.1% above collections through the same period a year ago.
The state said the drop in revenue is not unusual even in the face of the crisis. The state said lower than expected gaming tax collections reflected some of the casino disruptions experienced in March.
The state is uncertain what to expect for tax collections between April and June.
“Going into the April to June period, significant monthly fluctuations are expected and deviations from monthly estimates are likely as the rapidly changing economic outlook will most likely impact monthly collections starting in April,” the state said. “Additional uncertainty will be introduced, particularly with individual income tax and corporate taxes, with the alignment of Indiana’s tax filing and payment due date with the federal deferral to July 15.”
Other highlights from the March tax collections report:
- Sales tax collections totaled $602.3 million, which was $25.2 million or 4% below the monthly estimate but $10.4 million or 1.8% above revenue in March 2019.
- Individual income tax collections totaled $386.2 million for March, which was $9.2 million or 2.3% below the monthly estimate and $6.6 million or 1.7% below revenue in March 2019.
- Corporate tax collections totaled $24.9 million for March, which was $17.9 million or 41.8% below the monthly estimate and $29.5 million or 54.2% below revenue in March 2019.
- Riverboat wagering collections totaled $26.4 million for March, which was $8.8 million or 25% below the monthly estimate and $9.6 million or 26.7% below revenue in March 2019.
- Racino wagering collections totaled $9.5 million for March, which was $4.7 million or 33% below the monthly estimate and $2 million or 17.3% below revenue in March 2019.
