Revenue Secretary Dan Hassell reported Monday that Pennsylvania collected $2.6 billion in General Fund revenue in October, which was 16.4 percent more than anticipated.
Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $12.5 billion, which is 7.1 percent above estimate.
“Revenue collections are ahead of estimate to this point in part because of better than expected collections in our three primary revenue sources — sales tax, personal income tax and corporate net income tax,” Hassell said. “We’re pleased to see the national economy is bouncing back from the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we still have a long way to go to recover the revenue that was lost during the economic downturn earlier this year.”
The report’s overview of October revenues showed that sales tax receipts totaled $1.1 billion for the month, $145 million above estimate. Year-to-date sales tax collections total $4.4 billion, which is 8.1 percent higher than expected. Personal income tax revenue for the month totaled $1 billion, resulting in a 3.5 percent rise above year-to-date estimates, while corporation tax revenue collected in October totaled $122.6 million, bringing the year-to-date total to $1.3 billion, 14.3 percent above estimate.
The best performing tax type, the realty transfer tax revenue, was $65.4 million for October, $22.2 million above estimate. With the month’s addition, the fiscal-year total comes to $193.2 million, which is 40.1 percent more than anticipated.
Non-tax revenue, totaling $32.3 million for the month, $8.7 million above estimate. The year-to-date total of $86.7 million, however, was 26.8 percent lower than anticipated.
Inheritance tax revenue reported for October totaled $97.1 million, $17 million above estimate for the month, and other General Fund tax revenue, including cigarette, malt beverage, liquor and gaming taxes, totaled $161.1 million for the month.
In addition to the General Fund collections, the department reported that the Motor License Fund, which includes gas and diesel taxes, received $205.3 million for the month, $6.3 million below estimate. The year-to-date report shows that October’s collection brings the total to $975.3 million, which is 0.6 percent below estimate.