February 2020 State Tax Collections

February revenue collections from the state’s three largest taxes—the personal income tax, corporation tax, and sales tax—were ahead of Governor’s Budget projections by $334 million. Most of this difference is attributable to higher than projected personal income tax withholding. Withholding has shown strong growth for much of 2019-20. Most of these collections came before the recent escalation of the COVID-19 outbreak in United State and its related economic consequences. While we should see some effect of COVID-19 on tax collections starting in March, these numbers will become increasingly difficult to interpret as the state and federal governments have taken actions to push back regular tax filing deadlines.