(Center Square) – Louisiana Department of Revenue tax collections are on pace to exceed updated projections adopted by the Conference on Revenue Estimates last month.
On May 18, the REC adopted an official forecast of $12.068 billion in tax and fee revenue for the 2023 fiscal year ending June 30. That figure is more than $700 million higher than the official forecast set in December.
The Treasury Department’s May net receipts report shows collections eclipsed $1.2 billion last month, surpassing May 2022 by about $42 million. Year-to-date collections now stand at nearly $11.3 billion through May, a 6 percent increase over 2022 that equates to another $634 million with one month remaining in fiscal 2023.
A monthly breakdown of revenue collections shows that they exceeded 2022 numbers in every month of fiscal 2023 except November and December, and if the pattern continues, June revenue will top the roughly $1.1 billion collected the same month last year.
Assuming revenues match June 2022, Louisiana will close out fiscal year 2023 with tax and fee revenues more than $300 million higher than REC’s forecast.
Louisiana’s tax revenue comes primarily from sales tax, individual income tax, and corporate and franchise taxes.
Last month’s revenue report shows net sales tax collections are up about 5% compared to May 2022, when collections were 21% above 2021. Overall sales tax cash receipts exceeded last year in every month except January, April and May. Year-to-date collections through last month are $190 million ahead of the same time last year, for a total of about $4.1 billion heading into June.
While individual income tax revenues exceeded 2022 levels in six of the first 11 months of fiscal 2023, total collections year-to-date have increased by only 1%, or about $31 million of dollars, up to approximately $4.1 billion.
Including corporate and franchise taxes, net income through May is up 7% from last year, totaling about $1.2 billion year to date. The increase equates to about $82 million more raised so far in 2023 compared to the same time last year.
Severance tax collections are also up 92% through May compared to 2022, to $379 million more than last year, while taxes on gas and specialty fuels have declined 4% year-to-date, a decrease of $24 million, and miscellaneous taxes are down 29% or approximately $98 million from 2022 levels.
