Slow Tax Collections Sinking PA Budget

April revenues $595 million behind expectations.

AP reports that state tax collections are lagging badly: “Lawmakers and legislative staff say April tax collections are now so far behind projections that the only question is how severe the shortfall will be.”

With two days left in April, Pennsylvania’s tax collections were $595 million behind expectations for the month, said Ben Waxman, a spokesman for the Senate’s ranking Appropriations Committee Democrat, Vincent Hughes of Philadelphia.

That’s on top of earlier projections that had Pennsylvania $170 million behind expectations for the fiscal year as of April 1 — a shortfall tantamount to a $340 million gap because it reduces next year’s revenue projection by a dollar-for-dollar amount.

The news comes a day after reports that New Jersey’s budget shortfall had grown to a “staggering” $807 million.