California’s personal income and corporate tax revenues came in above expectations for July—the first month of the fiscal year—as well as the prior fiscal year, according to preliminary data from state agencies.
Corporate taxes accounted for $844 million of the surplus—due to what he said was an “unusually robust receipt day.” While $521 million in corporate revenue was anticipated for the month, $805 million came in on July 16.
July is typically a slower month for tax collections. The bump could be due to payments from a large corporation, but privacy laws prevent disclosure of specific taxpayer information, Sisney noted.
Personal income tax collections were $418 million, or 5.8 percent, higher for the month than anticipated.
A state finance official warned against judging strengths and weaknesses on one month’s data.
“We caution folks not to take a single month’s worth of cash data and try to extrapolate a long-term trend,” H.D. Palmer, deputy director for external affairs for the California Department of Finance and principal spokesman on fiscal and financial issues for Gov. Gavin Newsom, told The Epoch Times via email Aug. 8.
“There are a number of factors that can affect a month’s totals that don’t reflect any underlying strength or weakness.”
For the 2023-2024 fiscal year, revenues were $3.2 billion, or 1.5 percent, above projections, the state’s finance department said in its July budget report.
The figures were buoyed by strong June revenues, which came in at $361 million, or 1.2 percent, above forecasts.
June is considered an important month for revenues, because second-quarter estimated payments are due—which amount to about 40 percent of personal and corporate income receipts, according to the finance department.
Withholding receipts came in at $607 million, or 7.7 percent, below the forecast for June, but the miss was due to a timing issue, and the fiscal year totals beat projections by $554 million, or 0.6 percent, according to the budget report. Withholding declined by nearly 10 percent year-over-year in June but spiked 7.8 percent for the first half of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023.
Personal income taxes were about $145 million, or 1 percent, below expectations for June but beat fiscal year forecasts by $3.2 billion, or 1.1 percent.
Corporate taxes exceeded forecasts by $263 million—2.4 percent—for the month of June and beat fiscal year projections by $1 billion—2.5 percent. Estimated payments also exceeded expectations for the month and the year, primarily due to higher fee collections from limited liability companies, according to the finance department.
Sales taxes also beat forecasts, coming in $65 million—1.9 percent—higher for June and $7 million above fiscal year projections.
Unclaimed property revenues spiked significantly, at $361 million—32.2 percent—higher than expected for June and $743 million—20.3 percent—above what the budget anticipated for the fiscal year.
While lower than its pre-pandemic growth of about 4.8 percent, the state’s gross domestic product grew by 1.2 percent in the first quarter of 2024 after growing 3.1 percent in the same period of 2023.
With California facing significant budget deficits over the past two years, positive revenue data could mean the state will face less fiscal pressure in the coming budget processes, but officials remain cautious.
Preliminary data is subject to change, and more details for July are expected in the coming weeks, according to the finance department.
