State sales tax payments drop 4% in July and August

DES MOINES — The latest financial report shows the State of Iowa has a sizeable surplus, but sales tax payments slowed significantly this summer.

Jeff Robinson, a senior analyst for the Legislative Service Agency, says some transactions from the last state fiscal year are still being processed, but the state treasury will wind up with hundreds of millions more in tax payments than state officials had predicted in March.

“At the June 30 conclusion of the cash year, gross General Fund revenue was $435 million above projections,” Robinson says. “Individual income tax produced almost 70% of the excess.”

Robinson says since July 1, state income tax payments from individuals and corporations have remained strong. However, sales and use tax payments to the state were down 4%. From July 1 through September 2, total state tax revenue increased $13 million. That’s a less than one percent increase compared to the same period last year.

The tax cuts that lawmakers approved this spring will start going into effect January 1, 2023.