LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The state Department of Finance and Administration has released Arkansas's general revenue report for March 2024.
Year-to-date revenue summary:
- Net Available General Revenues - totaled $4,871.4 million, $288.7 million or 5.6% below year-ago levels. After nine months into the fiscal year, net available revenue is above forecast by $77.8 million or 1.6%.
- Gross General Revenues - totaled $6,100.5 million, representing a decrease of $91.7 million or 1.5% below last year. Gross general revenues are above forecast by $85.4 million or 1.4%.
- Individual Income Tax -collections totaled $2,658.8 million, $90.0 million or 3.3% below FY 2023 collections, and $48.0 million or 1.8% above forecast.
- Individual Income Tax Refunds - totaled $518.2 million, up $113.7 million or 28.1% compared to last year and $12.3 million or 2.4% above forecast.
- Sales and Use Tax - collections totaled $2,598.9 million, an increase of $72.6 million or 2.9% above FY 2023 and $26.6 million or 1.0% above forecast.
- Corporate Income Tax - collections totaled $442.9 million, a decrease of $71.0 million from year-to-date FY 2023. Corporate income is above forecast by $11.6 million or 2.7%.
- Corporate Income Tax Refunds - totaled $107.9 million, an increase of $56.9 million compared to the same year-to-date period last year.
March revenue summary:
- Net Available General Revenues- totaled $452.0 million, $34.4 million or 8.2% greater than last year and $67.2 million or 17.5% above forecast.
- Net Available revenue results were above forecast in Individual Income Tax, Corporate Income Tax, and Sales Tax in March. Individual Income Tax was above forecast across all types of payments. Sales Tax collections were above forecast and year-ago levels. Income Tax refund claims were below forecast in Individual and Corporate.
- Among smaller revenue sources, Tobacco was below forecast by $2.4 million and below year-ago collections.
- Gross General Revenues - totaled $688.8 million, an increase of $21.3 million or 3.2% over last year and $60.1 million or 9.6% above forecast. Gross revenues were above year ago primarily due to higher Sales Tax and Individual Income Tax collections.
- Individual Income Tax - collections totaled $302.7 million. Collections increased by $26.8 million, or 9.7% compared to last year. Compared to the forecast, collections were $37.8 million, or 14.3%, above forecast. Individual Withholding Tax revenue increased by $23.3 million, or 10.4% compared to last year.
- Individual Income Tax Refunds - totaled $156.5 million, $19.8 million below last year, and $1.6 million lower than forecast.
- Sales and Use Tax - collections totaled $295.3 million, $11.9 million above last year. Collections were above monthly forecast levels by $19.9 million or 7.2%. Most major reporting sectors of Sales Tax displayed growth over the prior year. Motor vehicle sales tax collections were down 19.2% from a year ago.
- Corporate Income Tax - collections totaled $36.0 million, a decrease of $13.0 million from a year ago, and $5.4 million above forecast.
- Corporate Income Tax Refunds - totaled $9.8 million, an amount that is $2.3 million above year-ago levels and $4.4 million below forecast.
- Tobacco Tax - a smaller component of general revenue in annual terms, totaled $15.5 million. Collections decreased by $2.8 million from year-earlier levels and were below forecast by $2.4 million. Monthly changes in tobacco tax collections can be attributed to uneven patterns of stamp sales to wholesale purchasers.
Special revenues of note:
Educational Adequacy Fund - Act 107 of the Second Extraordinary Session of 2003 increased the state sales and use tax rate from 5.125% to 6.0%, effective March 1, 2004.
Effective July 1, 2004, a new sales tax on selected services went into effect, along with an increase in vending machine decal fees. Act 94 increased the minimum corporate franchise tax and the tax rate, effective for calendar years beginning January 1, 2004.
The additional revenues are deposited as special revenues to the Educational Adequacy Fund to fulfill the state's financial obligations to provide an adequate educational system.
In March 2024, $62.5 million was collected and deposited to the fund. After deductions, the net amount is $60.6 million. The monthly collection is equivalent to a 1.8% decrease from prior year collections.