State senators are preparing to put out their version of Ohio's budget, in which they need to trim hundreds of millions of dollars to make sure it’s balanced. The state budget office is reporting another big loss in tax collections for the current fiscal year.
May’s preliminary numbers show personal income-tax collections came in almost $89 million below projections – a miss of nearly 14 percent. The actual dollar figure was less than the deficit in previous months, and other revenues were up – notably, the state’s commercial activity tax.
That brought the total tax collections shortfall for May to $67 million. But the total deficit for the fiscal year continues to approach a billion dollars. May’s report shows a shortfall of close to $841 million, with just one month left in the fiscal year. That is 4 percent below projections.
The Office of Budget and Management says in a statement with the May report that at this time, it believes the state will finish the fiscal year in the black.
