Archive: Business & Technology

State tax collections totaled $74.4 billion in State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2016-17, a decline of $300.1 million or 0.4 percent from last fiscal year, according to the state cash reportissued today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. Tax collections for the year ended $600 million lower than the latest projections released with the Executive Budget in February, primarily due to lower than anticipated business tax collections in March.

"While personal income tax and consumption tax receipts exceeded the latest projections at the end of the fiscal year, they were more than offset by lower business tax collections," DiNapoli said. "The state remained in a strong cash position starting the new fiscal year, because of factors including General Fund spending that was well below projections and unspent funds from financial settlements."

All Funds receipts in the last fiscal year totaled $156.4 billion, an increase of $3.1 billion, or 2 percent, from a year earlier. Total receipts ended the year $2.3 billion higher than the February projections, primarily because of federal payments. The state received $55.4 billion in federal aid during SFY 2016-17, up 8 percent, or nearly $4.1 billion, from the previous year.

All Funds spending totaled just over $157 billion in SFY 2016-17, approximately $6.3 billion, or 4.2 percent higher, than a year earlier. Significant increases include spending for public health programs (up $2.2 billion largely because of federally funded payments to the Essential Plan Program) and Medicaid (up $2.8 billion primarily from federal sources). All Funds spending was $850.3 million higher than the latest projections, primarily in local assistance grants.

The General Fund ended the year with a balance of $7.7 billion, $516.6 million higher than the latest projections, and nearly $1.2 billion lower than a year earlier. There were no additional deposits to the state's Rainy Day and Tax Stabilization reserve funds, which remained at a total of $1.8 billion.

v13i17