The State’s General Fund,Transportation Fund, and Education Fund receipts for July were a combined $6.91 million, or 3.5% above monthly consensus expectations. However Administration Secretary Suzanne Young warns that:
- Personal income was down.
- One-time federal money is stimulating purchase of goods and services. Sales taxes from these purchases benefit the state’s Education Fund. The following is a breakdown of the three major state revenue funds:
- General Fund revenues for the month totaled $124.81 million, or $3.04 million above the monthly consensus revenue target.
“While most subcomponents of General Fund revenues performed close to targets, it is worth noting that personal income, which is a good bellwether for the economy, underperformed while one-time inheritance and estate taxes overperformed, creating a net increase in monthly receipts,” Young explained. “It is also important to note, this revenue report for the first month of the fiscal year does not reflect a trend in any major fund or revenue source.”
- The Transportation Fund was $470,000, or 2.16%, above consensus expectations for the month, bringing in $22.03 million.
- The Education Fund (excluding property taxes) was $3.4 million, or 5.97%, above the monthly consensus target, with $60.42 million in total receipts for the month.
“Sales and use taxes continue to fuel the overperformance in the Education Fund, accounting for $2.91 million of the $3.4 million in added revenue,” said Secretary Young.
“Federal policy, like the advance child tax credit and pandemic unemployment assistance coupled with unprecedented federal spending bills like the American Rescue Plan Act is putting more money in Vermonters’ pockets, which they are in turn, using to buy goods and services and propping up Vermont’s economy,” Young said. [Italics added for emphasis.]
“The near-term outlook in the three major funds is strong; however, we must continue to consider these federal policies as onetime events as we build fiscal year 2023 budgets,” Secretary Young said. “If we establish a base level of spending that is not sustainable once this federal funding goes away, we will create a very difficult fiscal environment down the road.”
Categories: State Government
It would appear that the “stimulous” worked. If increased investments back into the VT tax revenue stream were the outcome of the federal dollars I’d say ‘hurrah’!. These are revenues that do not have to be accrued from property tax payers to fund education. Isn’t it a good thing that we took federal dollars and turned them into state dollars to invest in local schools?
Biden bucks – Yippee! Are we now going to depend on federal funds – aka taxpayer dollars – to support our bankrupt State? Where does Fed money come from? The Federal Reserve – The Treasury is creating the biggest bubble of failure ever seen. 2008 was just a preview. The Fed window is transfering a trillion dollars a night to shore up failing balance sheets. Can someone tell me what our GDP is now in comparison to all time high stock markets? Lets not kid ourselves into beliving the economic collapse is not coming soon. Plan and prepare accordingly.
Agree with Melissa. More money for schools but my tax burden continues to climb. More money for CRT. More money for security and mandates. No money for athletics, music, vocations. Fire the superintendent. The Biden bucks would be fine if families used the money for discretionary spending but unfortunately its going to the necessities of life, like food and shelter.