On January 2, the Department of Revenue reported Pennsylvania collected $2.9 billion in General Fund revenue in December, which was $70.1 million, or 2.5 percent, more than anticipated.

Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $15.3 billion, which is $403.7 million, or 2.7 percent, above estimate.

Since the start of the 2018-19 fiscal year, overall tax revenue is $934.7 million, or 6.7 percent, more than was collected in the same period of the last fiscal year.

The Independent Fiscal Office also released its Monthly Trends Report which found December General Fund collections were $80.8 million (2.9 percent) above the IFO’s revenue projections released in July and $419.7 million (2.8 percent) above estimate for the fiscal year-to-date (FYTD).

Dept. Of Revenue

Sales tax receipts totaled $935.2 million for December, $23.2 million above estimate. Year-to-date sales tax collections total $5.6 billion, which is $163.2 million, or 3 percent, more than anticipated.

Personal income tax (PIT) revenue in December was $972.4 million, $132.4 million below estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $5.9 billion, which is $203.4 million, or 3.3 percent, below estimate.

December corporation tax revenue of $577.9 million was $87.5 million above estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $1.7 billion, which is $294.6 million, or 21.6 percent, above estimate.

Inheritance tax revenue for the month was $87 million, $3.8 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $517.8 million, which is $0.3 million, or 0.1 percent, above estimate.

Realty transfer tax revenue was $48.1 million for December, $1 million below estimate, bringing the fiscal-year total to $276.9 million, which is $5.7 million, or 2 percent, less than anticipated.

Other General Fund tax revenue, including cigarette, malt beverage, liquor and gaming taxes, totaled $190.8 million for the month, $14.2 million above estimate and bringing the year-to-date total to $950.6 million, which is $3.8 million, or 0.4 percent, above estimate.

Non-tax revenue totaled $93.6 million for the month, $82.3 million above estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $355.5 million, which is $151 million, or 73.8 percent, above estimate.

In addition to the General Fund collections, the Motor License Fund received $192.8 million for the month, $15.5 million below estimate. Fiscal year-to-date collections for the fund — which include the commonly known gas and diesel taxes, as well as other license, fine and fee revenues — total $1.4 billion, which is $36.9 million, or 2.6 percent, below estimate.

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1/7/2019