Updates from state agencies show Michigan brought in around $2.9 billion in revenue last month.
The state House and Senate Fiscal Agencies released their January revenue updates this week.
Jim Stansell is senior economist with the House Fiscal Agency. He said there’s not too much to worry about as lawmakers begin to write the state’s next budget.
“As far as the budget planning process goes forward … we’re pretty much on track,” Stansell said.
The Senate Fiscal Agency’s analysis shows the state’s business tax collections combined for a net revenue loss of $207.6 million.
The update called it “a net loss of revenue due to refunds exceeding collections.”
Still, economists aren’t concerned. Stansell said the state planned for business tax refunds to outweigh collections.
“A lot of them were claimed early so that tends to lower — make the revenue look lower than it normally would be because we would expect those to be spread out over the year, and they came in early,” he explained.
Stansell said that shouldn’t have any impact on overall revenue estimates for the fiscal year since it means the state will likely issue less money in refunds later.
Michigan’s General Fund/General Purpose revenue was down from estimates because of the lower business tax collections.
Meanwhile, sales and use tax collection was strong. According to the House Fiscal Agency update, the state totaled about $1.2 billion in revenue from consumption taxes, which include sales, use, beer and wine, and other taxes on goods.
Stansell said that helped drive revenue for the School Aid Fund above expectations for last month.
