New Jersey's tax collections met their twice-revised forecast in May.
That wasn't unexpected, particularly given that the projections were made in May, when Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff gave a revenue update to the Legislature weeks after the Treasury Department absorbed a massive, surprising shortfall in April, when income tax payments, primarily from wealthy taxpayers, didn't arrive at the expected levels.
In announcing the May numbers, Sidamon-Eristoff said more than a dozen other states reported similarly disappointing results in April.
“Revenues seem to have stabilized, suggesting that last month’s challenges mainly reflected shortfalls in final payments,” said the state's chief economist, Charles Steindel.
May's revenues were $2.086 billion, which was $3.5 million (0.2%) above the revised forecast but $22 million (1.1%) below the collections in May 2013. Sales and insurance premium taxes beat expectations, but corporate business and inheritance taxes fell the farthest short.
The $23 billion in tax collections over the first 11 months of the state's fiscal year mark an increase of 1.4% from the first 11 months of the prior year. The budget originally, as first adopted last June, anticipated growth of 6.6%.
