Kansas is enjoying a prolonged period of better-than-expected revenues, even with the coronavirus pandemic approaching eight months in length.
Total tax receipts for October were $596.6 million, a nearly 12-percent increase over estimates and almost 8 percent above fiscal October 2020 numbers.
By category, individual income tax collections were 9 percent above estimates and last October’s returns. Corporate income taxes were up 74 percent over estimates but half a percent lower than last October. Retail sales tax collections were up 5 percent from last October. Compensating use tax collections were up 30 percent from estimates and 22 percent from last October.
State officials have been cautiously optimistic about — and at the same time concerned by — revenue totals, which have been consistently above projections after the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group revised expectations down by almost $1.3 billion in April due to COVID-19. Revenue Secretary Mark Burghart says the revenue growth is positive, but it has to be juxtaposed against COVID-19 “and the uncertainty it causes for the economy going into the winter months.”
October’s data comes as the Consensus Revenue Estimating Group is planning to meet Nov. 6 to discuss the current state of the economy and make adjustments to revenue projections.
