Governor Bob McDonnell, in a press release that was the closest a piece of paper or an HTML page can come to being giddy, announced that the $1.8B shortfall he inherited became a $220M surplus by year’s end (fiscal year’s end, in this case being June 30).
Finance Secretary Richard D. Brown was just as happy in talking to the press, but there was one comment of his, reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch that led Norm @ TQ to raise on eyebrow:
Buried in this RTD write-up of the state’s “surprise” $220 million budget surplus is a key to understanding why the state is suddenly flush with cash:
Sales tax collections for the most recent month doubled what they had been in June 2009. In a bid to generate a cash boost, the state accelerated the schedule for retailers to turn in taxes collected on sales. But Brown said the accelerated sales tax generated less than expected and did not boost the final surplus figure.
If they did nothing, then there’s no reason to keep collecting the accelerated payments through 2013, is there?
Indeed, Norm, and while they’re looking at the “accelerated payments” nonsense, the Governor and Legislature may also want to look at junking the manufacturer’s tax they snuck in.
[...] Cross-posted to RWL [...]
[...] Decelerate sales tax collection now instead of later: As was noted during the first surplus celebration, the revenue effect of the accelerated sales tax was nominal. Deceleration is supposed to come in [...]
[...] Decelerate sales tax collection now instead of later: As was noted during the first surplus celebration, the revenue effect of the accelerated sales tax was nominal. Deceleration is supposed to come in [...]