November state revenue tops expectations

As Florida continues trying to claw itself out of financial problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, November general-revenue collections exceeded expectations and slightly topped collections in pre-pandemic November 2019, according to a report released Wednesday.

Net general revenue last month totaled $2.698 billion, up 2.1% from $2.642.2 billion in November 2019, according to the report from the Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research.

After the pandemic slammed the economy, state analysts in August substantially reduced general-revenue estimates for the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 fiscal years. But revenue exceeded those reduced estimates by a combined total of nearly $1 billion in August, September, October and November, the report shows.

November collections exceeded the revised estimate by $277.3 million. General revenue includes a variety of sources, including sales taxes and corporate-income taxes. Despite overall collections exceeding the August expectations, the report Wednesday said the tourism and hospitality industries continue to suffer.

“The only significant over-the-year loss is attributed to declines in the tourism and hospitality-related industries, dropping receipts 20.3% below collections for the Tourism category in November 2019,” an executive summary said. “Even though a significant part of the loss arises from a reduction in the number of out-of-state tourists, this category also includes sales to Florida residents at restaurants, local attractions and other leisure-based activities which have likewise been negatively affected by the pandemic.”

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Republished with permission from The News Service of Florida.