TALLAHASSEE (News Service of Florida)--- Florida ended the 2020-2021 fiscal year with a strong month of general-revenue collections, bolstered in part by federal stimulus cash and people spending money saved up during earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report from state economists indicates.
The state brought in $4.1 billion in June, topping a general-revenue forecast for the month by $975.7 million. That means collections for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, which ended June 30, landed nearly $2.33 billion over an estimate crafted as the state started to reopen from the early stages of the pandemic.
The report from the Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research said the fiscal year showed “widespread strength” from April through the end of June, with sales-tax revenue from tourism topping the forecast for the year by 6.7 percent. Also, taxes on automobile sales were above the forecast amount by 9.2 percent, and taxes on non-durable goods such as food, clothes and gas were up 3.9 percent.
The figures in the report reflect a period before the recent surge in COVID-19 cases spurred by the delta variant of the coronavirus.
In August 2020, as the state had already used nearly $6 billion in stimulus money from the federal CARES Act to offset anticipated revenue reductions, economists adjusted down the 2020-2021 general revenue outlook by $3.42 billion and the estimate for the 2021-2022 fiscal year by nearly $2 billion.
But by April, state economists were praising a “faster than expected recovery.”
In December, economists added back a combined amount of about $2.1 billion in forecast general revenue for the two years and in April revised upward revenue by $1.475 billion for the 2020-2021 fiscal year and $550.8 million for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, which began July 1.
The upward trend continued in the June numbers.
“June collections reflect activity that largely occurred in May, which continued to benefit from the most recent round of stimulus checks to households, redirected spending from the hard-hit service sector and some consumers’ ability to draw down atypically large savings that built up during the pandemic,” the report said.
The June numbers marked Florida’s 11th consecutive month of exceeding revenue expectations following the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In May, general-revenue collections topped the forecast for the month by $573.8 million, after revenue topped forecasts for April by $797.2 million. General revenue plays a key role in funding programs such as schools, health care and prisons.
Sales taxes have played a major role in the gains, beating the June forecast by $488.1 million. Corporate income taxes were up $296.1 million from the estimate for June, and documentary-stamp taxes on real estate were up $90.1 million.
Among other types of taxes that were above forecast in June were beverage taxes and insurance taxes. Parimutuel taxes and taxes on tobacco products were below forecast amounts.
The general revenue forecast is scheduled to be revised by the state Revenue Estimating Conference on Aug. 17.
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