Florida’s April tax collections more than $400M above estimate

a lot of money - a million US dollars in cash

Led by a surge in corporate income taxes, revenue collections for April came in $411.4 million above estimates, according to a new report released by state economists.

Net collections were $5.53 billion in April, which mostly reflects economic activity that occurred in March. In recent years as inflation ratcheted up, sales taxes accounted for the boost in revenues, but in April it was corporate income taxes that contributed most to the padding in the coffers.

The state received $1.32 billion in corporate income taxes, nearly $330 million above the projections of state economists.

Sales taxes came in at nearly $3.4 billion, about $6.5 million, or 0.2%, above the estimates. Although sales taxes ballooned as inflation soared, the inflation factor is still having an impact on the economy, even though collections haven’t continued to grow exponentially.

The report points to the personal savings rate of 3.6% in April, the same as the previous month, combined with a sharp increase in household debt.

“Aggregate household debt balances rose by $184 billion in the first quarter of the 2024 calendar year — a 1.1 percent increase from the fourth quarter of the 2023 calendar year,” the report states. “The savings and credit changes are likely related to the cumulative effects of inflation, which still remains elevated.”

The consumer price index for April rose 3.4%, slightly less than the 3.5% of the prior month.

One revenue stream that fell below expectations was insurance premium taxes, which totaled $302.4 million, about $25.9 million below projections.

But other sources of revenue beat state economists’ estimates, helping to buoy state coffers. Earnings on investments ($50.2 million), documentary stamp taxes on real estate transactions ($25.3 million) and corporate filing fees ($11.2 million), all came in over expectations in April.

For the year, net revenues have nearly hit $39.15 billion, about $879.3 million above estimates and about $736 million above last year’s revenues at the same period.

The report doesn’t reflect revenues received from the Seminole Gaming Compact. The Seminole Tribe of Florida began making payments to the state under the compact again in February, shortly after economists issued their revenue forecasts in January, due to a favorable court ruling. Florida received $62.6 million in compact payments in April.