Weekly Edition

State’s tax collections improve despite housing market slump

Virginia’s general fund collections were up slightly last month, even as the nation’s economy continued its nose dive and Virginia’s housing market cooled.

Thanks to increased income tax collections and fewer tax refunds, revenues for core government operations like public safety and education topped $1 billion last month.
That’s a 3.2 percent increase over the $973 million in March 2007.

With three-fourths of the fiscal year ended, general fund tax collections stood at 10.9 billion with three months left in the current budget. That’s 2.5 percent ahead of revenues at the same point last year and ahead of the 1.2 percent rate of growth presumed in the budget.
But distressing signs persisted for the housing industry.

The tax paid to record real estate deeds, wills and contracts dropped 28 percent for the month and is one-fifth lower than year-to-date collections last year.

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