Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Tax revenues
indicate economic
growth, official says

Associated Press

State tax revenues are running 3.1 percent ahead of the same nine-month period last year, the Department of Taxation reported yesterday.

The tax take of $202.9 million in March was 2.9 percent over March of last year, despite a 4.4 percent decline in the excise and use tax revenues, due to March 1999 figures being inflated by carryover from February, which ended on a weekend, Tax Director Ray Kamikawa said.

"However, the decrease was smaller than expected, indicating continued growth in Hawaii's economy," he said.

Through the first nine months of the fiscal year, revenue from the general excise and use taxes was 5.6 percent ahead of the same period a year earlier.

The general excise and use tax category accounts for about half of the state's general fund revenues and reflects business activity in the state.

The 3.1 percent increase in overall tax revenues through nine months of the fiscal year compares with the state Council on Revenue's latest forecast for no-growth in the fiscal year that ends June 30.

The difference would be about $90 million more than the council has advised the state administration and Legislature to expect in the current fiscal year.

Through March, the state has collected $2.16 billion, the tax department said.

---

http://www.hawaii.gov/