SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - Legislative leaders heard earlier this week that sales tax collections continue to be below budget projections.
Fiscal Analyst with the Legislative Research Council, Jeff Melhaff, told the Executive Board that the sales tax slump slid into March.
Melhaff says sales and use tax collected through March is $721 million which is $4.7 million short of projections. He says contractor's excise tax through March is down $1.3 million.
Melhaff says a cut in insurance taxes also figures into the overall decline. He says the total for March was down $9.2 million from where it was originally anticipated.
Melhaff says tax dollars from February, collected in March were also lower. He says the state is down $1.8 million for sales tax and insurance company tax is down $1.4 million.
He says the state paid out $3 million in unclaimed property and the projection was $1.6 million which puts the state down $1.4 million. Melhaff says overall for the month "we're down $3 million dollars in state general fund revenue."
Legislators passed a budget last session that spends less than $1.6 billion in the general fund. It represents a $30 million cut from Governor Daugaard's proposed budget.
(Thanks Jerry Oster, WNAX Yankton)