Some good news for Gov. Gina Raimondo and the Rhode Island General Assembly in the latest revenue numbers for fiscal year 2016 from the state Department of Revenue.
Through January, both the personal income tax collections and the sales tax receipts are exceeding state projections. Income tax collections are running nearly four percent –3.8 percent—ahead of estimates. The sales levy is bringing in 3.4 percent more than estimates.
Sales and income taxes provide the two largest pots of state general revenue in the Rhode Island budget. The uptick, says Paul Grimaldi, chief of information for the revenue department, is likely due to job growth and modest “pay increases and bonuses’’ that some employees are getting.
State Lottery revenues are off by about four percent, which Grimaldi says is less than was estimated in the aftermath of the Plainridge video slot parlor in Massachusetts. Rhode Island has projected that lottery losses would be around 10 percent due to Plainridge.