North Dakota's Biennium-Over-Biennium Revenues Fall For First Time In Nearly A Decade

According to the Office of Management and Budget’s most recent general fund revenue report (see below), the State of North Dakota has failed to beat the previous biennium’s revenues in a month for the first time since at least the 2007 – 2009 biennium.

Through January the cumulative general fund revenues taken in by the state in the first seven months of the 2015-2017 biennium were $1,845,102,983.

Through the same month in the 2013-2015 biennium general fund revenues were $1,848,890,323.

That’s a 0.2 percent decline. Not exactly an off the cliff moment, to be sure, and it’s still a total which is 128 percent higher than the same period in the 2007-2009 biennium, but it is a paradigm shift for the state which hasn’t seen a decline in tax revenues in a long, long time.

This chart shows cumulative general fund revenues for the first seven months of each biennium going back to 2007-2009:

As you can see from the chart serving as the banner image, it’s sales taxes and personal income taxes which are seeing the biggest declines.

To date, the 2015-2017 biennium has seen a $141 million decline in sales tax revenues and a $113 million decline in individual income tax revenues. The corporate income tax, with a $63 million decline, comes in third.

Here’s the full report: