The magic in baseball? Hope.
The home team can be down three runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning but – if the bases are loaded – one swing of the bat leads to victory.
It doesn’t happen often. It does happen, giving fans that glimmer of hope until the very end.
For the first nine months of the current Fiscal Year Missouri’s General Revenue receipts put the home team deep in the hole. Those in the accidental governor’s administration advised patience, claiming things would work out – then failed to put the February and March revenue reports in their traditional place on the Office of Administration website.
Well, they did post the April report. And, yes things did work out.
In April the state brought in $1.59 billion – up a half billion dollars from April 2018! Total General Revenue hit 2.8% above last year, after trailing by 5% or more for many months.
How? Individual Income Tax receipts jumped 45.3% over last April, Corporate taxes (what there are of them) increased 68% for the month and – sound the trumpets – Refunds decreased 6.2% Year To Date.
Simply, the Trump federal tax cuts forced many, many Missourians to pay more state tax.
With two months left in the current Fiscal Year, it is still very possible that weak May and June receipts may erase some of the gains. In the end, fortunately, Missouri went from teetering over a very steep canyon to being a bit wobbly on a small grassy slope.
The Fiscal Year 2020 budget – to get final approval this coming week – still faces challenges, including the implementation of further tax rate cuts and that general weakness in regular income tax receipts. Plus, let’s expect many Missourians to get expert advice to moderate what they owe the state.
Still, the state’s economic picture does look better, for now.
Stay tuned.
Glenn