by Jon Styf
Tennessee was $7.4 million shy of reaching its budgeted estimate for tax and fee collections in September, putting the state $46.9 million below its budget for the first two months of the fiscal year.
The $2.2 billion in overall September collections were $29.4 million more than September 2022 collections.
“We’re encouraged to see consumer activity continuing to hold strong and will continue to closely monitor state finances especially in a few months when holiday shopping begins,” said Finance and Administration Commissioner Jim Bryson.
Bryson said sales tax collections exceeded the budgeted estimates by $26.2 million in September.
Franchise and excise taxes, however, were $36.2 million short of estimates.
“September sales tax receipts remained strong, with notable growth from online retail sales, motor vehicle sales, apparel and clothing sales, and restaurant activity,” Bryson said. “Food store sales tax revenues for September, the first of a three- month food sales tax holiday, were level with collections from the same period last year, when there was also a food tax holiday.
“Franchise and excise taxes, privilege taxes and motor vehicle registration fees underperformed for the month while the state’s gross receipts tax had a large one-time tax payment that increased its growth.”
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter of The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
Photo “Tennessee Capitol” by Adam Jones. CC BY-SA 2.0.
