Through January North Dakota Biennium Revenues Up Nearly $300 Million
The latest revenue numbers for North Dakota are out from the state Office of Management and Budget covering the biennium through the month of January, and biennium to date the state is up nearly $300 million in tax collections over the 2011-2013 biennium. That’s a roughly 19.2 percent bump.
Compared to the 2009-2011 biennium, revenues through January are up a whopping 84 percent, or $844.5 million dollars. Here’s the updated graph showing the cumulative revenues for the current biennium to date compared to the previous three bienniums.
The biggest dollar bump comes from the sales tax, which is up $133,872,813 compared to last biennium. The income tax is the second biggest source of increases, with collections from the corporate tax up $37.3 million and collections from the individual income tax up nearly $89.6 million. Keep in mind that those revenues are despite major reductions in both the corporate and income tax over successive legislative sessions.
In 2008 voters defeated a ballot measure to reduce the personal income tax by 50 percent and the corporate income tax by 25 percent. The measure was defeated, but in the 2009, 2011 and 2013 legislative sessions the rates for both taxes have been cut down below where the 2008 measure would have put them.
Yet, despite those cuts, personal income tax collections are up nearly 74 percent – going from $173,378,144 in January of 2010 to $301,581,690 though January of 2014.
Corporate income tax collections are up 171 percent, going from $36,293,735 in January of 2010 to $98,554,460 through January of 2014.
On the issue of the revenue forecasts which have drawn criticism because they’ve been so off, understating revenues by over a billion and a half dollars, the forecast is proving a lot more accurate this time around. In January of 2012 the variance between actual revenues and the forecast was 28.5 percent, or over $344 million.
In the current biennium through January, the variance is 8.9 percent or $151 million.
