Tax collections in Kansas are slightly below expectations

The Kansas Department of Revenue said Friday in its July report that tax collections came in slightly below expectations, off 0.9 percent.

The disappointment was in sales taxes and use taxes. Sales taxes were $3 million below expectations, and use tax receipts were $1.1 million below estimates.

Those figures reflect sales and use taxes collected in June. The higher state tax rate passed by lawmakers last session — from 6.15 to 6.5 percent — took effect July 1.

Corporate and individual income tax receipts were higher than expected.

Individual income tax receipts were $153 million, which was $3 million more than estimates. Corporate tax receipts were $18.3 million, $816,000 higher than estimates.

Total tax receipts in the July report came to $417.6 million. The report came a day after Gov. Sam Brownback’s budget director announced $63 million in adjustments to the state’s $15.4 billion budget to shore up what so far is a small budget surplus.

“We are glad to see corporate and individual income tax receipts above estimates,” Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan said in a statement.

House Minority Leader Tom Burroughs, a Kansas City, Kan., Democrat, was not impressed.

“Given that this is the first month of the fiscal year, I am concerned state revenue is already down,” Burroughs said in a statement.

“I am not, however, surprised. Despite passing the largest tax increase in state history, we continue to see fiscal mismanagement under Republican leadership.”

This story was originally published July 31, 2015 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Tax collections in Kansas are slightly below expectations."