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Sales Taxes Up, Overall Ohio Revenues Are Down – But That Could Flip Next Month
By: Karen Kasler | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Ohio’s sales tax revenues were up for the last month, but income tax collections were way down.
Sales taxes were up by nearly 23% – and with car sales going briskly, auto sales taxes were up by 23.5%.
But with the state’s tax deadline pushed off till May 17, income tax collections were down 39%. But OBM says it expects that to be reversed next month.
Going back to the beginning of the budget year last July – which includes some of the worst months of the pandemic but also lots of federal relief dollars – state revenues are up just over 2%.
It’s a dramatic change from the report from one year ago. In April 2020, OBM reported tax receipts were down $866.5 million, or more than 35% off forecasts.
And not long after the budget was introduced, OBM Director Kimberly Murnieks indicated that the state’s $2.7 billion rainy day fund may not need to be tapped after all, though Gov. Mike DeWine had said at one point in 2020 that it was a possibility.