Arkansas ends fiscal year with nearly $700 million surplus

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas has again ended its fiscal year with a surplus of hundreds of millions of dollars, according to revenue reports released Tuesday.

The June report from the Department of Finance and Administration showed the state finished FY2024 with a $698.4 surplus after taking in $6.9 billion in revenue for the year.

The total net revenue brought in by the state for the fiscal year came just under the revised forecast from May, missing that mark by 0.1%, or $9.7 million.

The revenue amount was also down 4% from FY2023. Finance officials said the drops in net and gross revenues were expected and attributed the lower numbers to the income tax cuts passed by Arkansas lawmakers in 2023.

For the year, Arkansas saw a drop of 1.7% in individual income tax collections, down $66.3 million to $3.85 billion. Corporate income taxes were down $97.6 million to a total of $744.8 million collected by the state.

On the flip side, Natural State residents saw more tax refunds come back to their pockets, with DFA reporting refunds totaling $782.9 million, up 1.9% from the prior year and .3% over the forecast. Corporate tax refunds also grew by $75.7 million over last year.

The area of tax income that increased for the state was sales and use taxes, where the DFA reported $3.48 billion in revenue, up $62 million, or 1.8%, over figures from FY2023.

For June alone, officials said revenue was above forecast for individual income tax and below forecast for corporate income tax. June sales tax collections and refund claims were both above forecasts.

DFA officials reported the monthly number showed taxes from tobacco and alcohol sales were below their forecasts while revenue from insurance and gaming revenue was higher than expected.

State officials noted that there was $63.8 million deposited in the Arkansas Educational Adequacy Fund in June, but after deductions, there was $61.9 million in the fund to end the month.

For FY2024, the state reported $729 million in fund collections, up 2.2% from the $713.3 million collected in FY2023.

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