INDIANAPOLIS | Lower than expected July sales tax and corporate income tax collections caused Indiana to miss its first monthly revenue target of the new budget year. Revenue also fell short of the state's July 2014 revenue total.
Hoosiers last month paid $614.3 million in sales tax, the state's largest revenue source.
However, budget officials expected $645.6 million in sales tax revenue, a shortfall of $31.3 million, or 4.8 percent.
Higher than predicted personal income tax revenue of $349.4 million, which was $35.2 million or 11.2 percent above forecast, more than made up the difference.
But Indiana got just $10.9 million from corporate income tax collections versus expectations of $27.5 million, a 60.5 percent deficit. That dropped the state's monthly revenue total compared to expectations back into the red.
Overall, Indiana took in $1.042 billion in July.
The revenue forecast issued in April predicted $1.048 billion, a difference of $6 million, or 0.6 percent — essentially a rounding error when put up against the $16 billion-plus the state expects to take in through June 2016.
July 2014 state revenue was $1.1 million, or 0.1 percent, greater than last month's tax collections, even though inflation should almost guarantee a 1- to 2-percent year-over-year increase.
Indiana last failed to exceed the prior year's monthly revenue in May 2014.
During that budget year, Gov. Mike Pence repeatedly enacted significant spending reductions to keep the state's budget in balance and preserve Indiana's $2 billion reserve fund.
The Republican already has directed state agencies to hold back 3 percent of their 2016 appropriations to guard against state spending exceeding revenue.