Pa. collected $3.1B in tax revenue in October; Sales tax, income tax collections increase

Pennsylvanians opened their wallets in October, as sales tax and income tax revenues grew, even as other key indicators showed decreases, mirroring a mixed result in September, according to newly released state data.

The commonwealth collected $3.1 billion in general fund revenue in October, coming in at $188.8 million, or 6.4 percent ahead of projections, according to the state Department of Revenue. Year-to-date tax collections now total $12.9 billion, which is $385.1 million or 3.1 percent ahead of estimates.

For the sake of comparison, the state collected $4.2 billion in general fund revenue in September, coming in at $135.8 million, or 3.3 percent, ahead of projections, the Capital-Star previously reported.

Here’s how those October collections broke down, by category, with a look-back at September’s collections:

Sales Tax: The state collected $1.3 billion in sales tax revenue in October, which was $94.2 million above estimate. Year-to-date sales tax collections total $4.8 billion, which is $137.3 million, or 2.9 percent, more than anticipated.

Sales tax revenues totaled $1.1 billion in September, or $2.3 million below estimates. Year-to-date sales tax collections totaled $3.6 billion, which is $43.1 million, or 1.2 percent, more than anticipated, the department said.

Personal Income Tax: October collections totaled $1.3 billion, or $68.7 million above estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $5.0 billion, which is $0.5 million, above estimate, the Revenue Department said in a statement.

Income tax collections totaled $1.6 billion in September, or $61.8 million below estimate, the Revenue Department said. Year-to-date collections totaled.$3.8 billion, which is $68.2 million, or 1.8 percent, below estimates.

Corporate Tax: The state collected $183.4 million in corporate tax revenue in October, which was $17.4 million above estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $1.5 billion, which is $214.6 million, or 16.1 percent, ahead of estimates, data showed.

September’s corporate tax collections totaled $1.1 billion, which was $202.4 million above estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections totaled $1.4 billion, which was $197.3 million, or 16.9 percent, above estimate, the Revenue Department said.

Inheritance Tax: The state collected $123.3 million in inheritance tax revenue last month, which was $2.1 million below estimates. That brought the year-to-date total to $478.4 million, which was $10.5 million, or 2.1 percent, below estimate, data showed.

The state brought in $128.2 million in inheritance tax revenue in September which was $5.1 million below estimate. That brings the year-to-date total to $355.1 million, which was $8.4 million, or 2.3 percent, below estimate.

Realty Transfer Tax: October revenue totaled $64.3 million for October, which was $0.7 million below estimate. That brought the fiscal-year total to $250 million, which is $12.3 million, or 5.2 percent, more than anticipated.

Realty transfer tax revenue was $62.4 million for September, or $5.2 million below estimate, according to the Revenue Department. That brought the fiscal year-to-date total to $185.6 million, which was $12.9 million, or 7.5 percent, more than anticipated.