Georgia posts healthy start to new fiscal year

ATLANTA — The state began a new fiscal year on a positive note last month, with July tax collections increasing 2.7% over July of last year.

The Georgia Department of Revenue brought in $2.56 billion in taxes last month, up $66.3 million over July 2023.

However, individual income tax receipts in July declined slightly, down 0.4% from the same month a year ago. The decrease was driven by a 3.6% increase in refunds issued by the revenue agency, combined with a 1% drop in payments.

The slight decrease in income tax revenues was offset by a 4.8% increase in net sales tax collections.

Corporate income tax receipts also rose, increasing 28.4% last month compared to the previous July. The biggest factor responsible for the increase was a 110.1% drop in tax refunds, while payments were up by 17.1%.

The overall increase in tax revenues in July followed a 6.5% increase the state posted in June, the last month of fiscal 2024. However, that came at the end of a fiscal year that saw a net downturn in tax collections of 3.4%.

The good news is that decrease came even as Georgia’s tax collections ended the fiscal year more than $2 billion ahead of Gov. Brian Kemp’s conservative revenue projections.