Newsmax - U.S. Tax Revenue Hit All-Time High in April

Amid calls from some for tax increases to deal with the deficit, the federal government collected $406.72 billion in April — the all-time noninflation-adjusted high for a single month.

Overall federal tax receipts in April were up 28 percent from April of last year, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement from the U.S. Treasury.

April is almost always the peak month for tax revenue, since tax returns — and payments of taxes owed — are due on April 15.

The previous monthly high was $403.8 billion in April 2008.

The Treasury collected $240.2 billion in individual income taxes in April, about 36 percent more than the $178.5 billion collected in April 2012.

Other revenue included about $96 billion in employment and general retirement taxes, $36 billion in corporate taxes, $9.8 billion in unemployment insurance taxes, $6.9 billion in excise taxes, $5.8 billion in estate and gift taxes, and $2.5 billion in customs duties.

Due to the record tax revenue, the federal government ran a surplus of $112.9 billion in April. But in the first seven months of fiscal 2013, October through April, the government has run a deficit of $487.6 billion.

Outlays totaled $293.8 billion in April. The largest amount went to the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers Medicare — $75.3 billion.

Next were the Social Security Administration ($71.7 billion), Department of Defense-Military Programs ($46.5 billion), and Interest on Treasury Debt Securities ($35.9 billion).

Interest on the debt is expected to cost taxpayers more than $420 billion this fiscal year.

NH House Leaders Comment on Release of Revenue Figures for Last Fiscal Year Being Nearly Identical to Target

CONCORD – House Speaker William O’Brien (R-Mont Vernon) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Stephen Stepanek (R-Amherst) today offered the following comments in response to the release of the budget results for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2012 (FY12).  The figures released by the Department of Administrative Services show that the budgeted revenues were up over projections by $600,000 on a $2.19 billion, or a variance of just 3/100^th of 1%.

House Speaker William O’Brien

“To come so close to revenue projections that we would exceed our estimates by a mere 3/100 of a percent is a stunning, remarkable achievement, and shows what happens when your focus is on delivering accurate figures and not trying to inflate revenues to spend more money.  This is a far cry for the prior fiscal year (FY11) when Maggie Hassan and the Democrats overestimated revenues by $116 million – even including their additional tax and fee hikes in a special session – and Governor Lynch’s estimates for FY12 which would have missed by over $122 million, and would have set the stage for yet another budget crisis.  This is a testament to our Ways and Means Committee’s hard work to get the right numbers, not politically expedient figures.  While it’s great that we ended the year with a surplus, we would have like to have seen more aggressive management of the state agencies by Governor Lynch, as we saw lapse figures – the amount that state agencies do not spend – drop by over $60 million from the prior year.  Hopefully, the next governor will be more attentive to ensuring that state agencies rein in their spending.”

House Ways and Means Chairman Stephen Stepanek

“This Legislature chose to use reasonable, responsible revenue figures to bring integrity and accountability back to the budgeting process. These revenue figures are once again a tremendous compliment to the hard work of the Ways and Means Committee. We chose to use reliable revenue targets, and not inflate estimates as the Democrats did when they were in charge so that they could spend more. Unfortunately, the Democrats’ spending was paid for at the expense of the taxpayer with 100 new taxes and fees. We’ve made clear that this legislature refuses to pass the burden off to the taxpayers by raising taxes. Lower taxes mean less of a burden on our businesses and more new jobs here.”

NH House Speaker Comments on July Revenues up $7.9 Million

CONCORD – House Speaker William O’Brien offered the following comment in response to the release of state revenues being up $7.9 million for July.

House Speaker William O’Brien

“We are off to a good start for the new fiscal year, with revenues up almost 9% for the month of July.  It’s good to see that business taxes are healthy for the month, particularly the business enterprise tax (BET), which is a sign of the state’s employment strength, and it was up nearly 28% over projections.  The tobacco tax was also up again, after being right in line with projections for the last six months of the last fiscal year.  This is a solid first month, and that’s important, since we know that we have several fiscal challenges for this year.”

NH House Leaders Comment on Updated and Improving Revenue Picture from Last Fiscal Year

CONCORD – House Majority Leader Pete Silva (R-Nashua) and House Deputy Majority Leader, and Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Stephen Stepanek (R-Amherst) today offered the following comments on the update revenue figures released late Friday by the Department of Administrative Services, which showed that the state added an additional $17.7 million in revenue for the fiscal year that ended on June 30.  In all, the report shows that the revenue figures missed projections by $8.9 million, or 0.4% of total revenues, based on the Medicaid Enhancement Tax (MET) missing targets by $24.5 million.  Outside of that outstanding issue, revenues exceeded projections by $15.6 million.

House Majority Leader Pete Silva

“It’s great to see that we added roughly $18 million in added revenue, and with any luck the MET figures will improve before the final audited financials come out.  However, what has really impressed me is how our tobacco revenues held exactly to plan over the last six months of the year, with $102.8 million expected and $102.8 million coming in.  It’s clear that after word got out about the New Hampshire Advantage of lower prices sunk in, people started coming here to buy their goods, just as we predicted.  As someone who represents and city and a ward that’s right on the border, I know that my retailers are telling me that the tax relief is improving their business and helping their bottom line.  Now that it is clear that the tax reduction is working and helping our economy, what will the Democrats have to come up with next for a phony argument to attack Republicans?.”

House Deputy Majority Leader Stephen Stepanek

“These revenue figures are once again a tremendous compliment to the hard work of the Ways and Means Committee to put together responsible estimates after years of a highly mismanaged process.  Regardless of how the MET situation shakes out, we will be within less than 1% of our predicted revenue, which will be a remarkable accomplishment.  It also shows the power of incentives.  When Republicans eliminated the Democrats’ auto registration surcharge, we saw a spike in registrations over estimates by nearly $3 million, or a 4% increase.  Lower taxes mean more economic activity and more good, new jobs here, and we will continue these efforts next year.”

NH House Speaker Comments on Release on Annual Revenue Figures

CONCORD – House Speaker William O’Brien (R-Mont Vernon) today offered the following comments regarding the release of the preliminary revenue for figures for State Fiscal Year 2012, which ended last Saturday.  The revenue results still include an outstanding deficit of $34.1 million in Medicaid Enhancement Tax (MET) revenue that the Department of Revenue Administration expects to receive this month, but which will be included as revenue for last fiscal year.

House Speaker William O’Brien

“Outside of the MET, which the DRA has indicated will be coming in late, our Ways and Means Committee has done an outstanding job of predicting our revenues.  For the year, revenues will be up by $1 million over estimates, meaning that our forecast will have been accurate within two tenths of one percent of the actual results.  That is an incredible achievement and is a far cry for recent years, in which inflated revenue figure were used to justify more government growth.  If we had gone with Governor Lynch and the Democrats’ revenue figures, we would have been looking squarely at a deficit of over $120 million right now.  Instead of worrying about what taxes and fees to raise and laying off more state employees, state leaders can focus on how we can get our economy back on track and create new jobs, thanks to our commitment to producing reliable revenue estimates.”

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Link (revenue focus): http://admin.state.nh.us/accounting/FY%2012/Monthly%20Rev%20June%2012.pdf