DOR: Cash collections grow 2.7% fiscal YTD, 5.2% in March

CASH COLLECTIONS increased fiscal year to date and during the month of March compared with the prior year periods, the R.I. Department of Revenue said. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
CASH COLLECTIONS increased fiscal year to date and during the month of March compared with the prior year periods, the R.I. Department of Revenue said. / COURTESY R.I. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

PROVIDENCE – For the first nine months of the fiscal year, cash collections increased nearly 3 percent, or $67.2 million, compared with the prior fiscal period, according to the state Department of Revenue.

Collections increased 2.7 percent to $2.6 billion, from $2.5 billion, the DOR said, noting increases in personal income tax revenue over the year of 6.5 percent, to $817.6 million, and sales and use tax of 2.9 percent, to $735.1 million.

The DOR said that sales and use tax cash collections increased despite the 2016 repeal of sales and use tax on electricity, natural gas and heating fuels (to commercial buyers for non-manufacturing purposes). The Office of Revenue Analysis estimated that $18.8 million of sales and use tax revenue has been lost due to the change, the DOR reported.
Lottery transfer collections fell 0.9 percent, or $2.3 million, to $243.9 million, something the DOR blamed on competition from Massachusetts gaming. Net gaming revenue from traditional table games at Twin River rose $1.7 million, or 20.7 percent, compared with the prior year, however.
Comparing the month of March with March 2015, collections climbed 5.2 percent, to $370.1 million from $351.8 million.

Said DOR Director Robert S. Hull, “The month of March was bolstered by a substantial increase in personal income tax collections on a year-over-year basis.”
Personal income tax grew nearly 70 percent over the year to $81.4 million from $48 million, and lottery transfer rose 4.2 percent to $29.8 million from $28.5 million.
The DOR said the increase in March 2016 personal income tax cash collections was driven largely by a decrease of $32.8 million, or 43.1 percent, in personal income tax refunds compared with March 2015.
Lottery transfer revenue was boosted by the relatively mild winter, the DOR said. All casino gaming revenue derived from Twin River and Newport Grand also was higher for March than it was for March 2015, the DOR said.

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