Kentucky tax receipts hit 5-year low Associated Press • July 14, 2010 FRANKFORT - Kentucky's tax collections for the 2010 fiscal year tumbled to a five-year low, falling for the second consecutive year — the worst showing since World War II, the state's top budget official said.
Budget Director Mary Lassiter reported in a news release that the General Fund receipts for the fiscal year that ended June 30 were 2.4 percent lower than the previous fiscal year at $8.225 billion.
"We have reduced the state's budget seven times over the past two and (a) half years, and are now in the process of cutting again," Lassiter said in Monday's news release.
In May, Gov. Steve Beshear brokered a compromise between the Kentucky House and Senate to get a $17 billion budget enacted and prevent wide layoffs of state workers. The budget mandated $131 million in additional cuts.
Last week, Beshear announced a plan to furlough state workers for a savings of $24 million in the 2010-2011 fiscal year, and Lassiter has already asked heads of state agencies to identify new areas to cut.
Final fiscal year 2010 revenues were $27.2 million, or 0.3 percent, more than the official revised revenue estimate by the bipartisan Consensus Forecasting Group, which monitors state revnues and the economy, according to the news release.
By law, funds in excess of official estimates are limited to use for unbudgeted items such as forest fires, floods, ice storms, tornadoes, National Guard security and disaster assistance and legal judgments. Those expenses have averaged $49 million during the last four years, the release said.
Sales and use tax receipts fell 2.2 percent, or $63.6 million, in the fiscal year, but perhaps most notable was a 37.1 percent increase in cigarette tax receipts to $75.4 million, "due largely to the tax increases enacted during the 2009 regular session of the General Assembly," the release said.
State taxes on a pack of cigarettes rose to 60 cents last year.
