Third and State

Pennsylvania General Fund collections in July totaled $1.84 billion, with $1.81 billion coming from taxes. This is the largest amount of tax collected in July since before the recession and $119 million, or 7%, higher than July 2011 tax receipts. This starts the 2012-13 fiscal year off on a positive note, at least in terms of the revenue side of the spending plan.

With one exception, all major categories of General Fund revenue collections in July 2012 exceeded those in the prior year.

Here are the details (in $ thousands):

Since the Department of Revenue has yet to release monthly estimates (due later in the month), there is no official revenue target to compare July collections to — and since the targets will be released after the month is over, July collections seldom vary from estimate.

Despite July not being a typically important month in revenue collections, beginning the year with collections that are stronger than we have seen in several recent years is still a good sign. One down, eleven to go.