SACRAMENTO
- State Controller John Chiang today released his monthly
report covering California's cash balance, receipts and disbursements
in February 2014. Revenues for the month totaled $5.6 billion,
surpassing estimates in the 2014-15 Governor's Budget by $968.9 million,
or 20.9 percent.
"Driven
by strong retail sales and personal income tax withholdings, February
receipts poured in at nearly $1 billion above projections," said Chiang.
"How
we conserve and invest during the upswings of California's notorious
boom-or-bust revenue cycles will determine how critical programs – such
as public safety and education – will weather the next economic dip.
With fiscal discipline and a focus on slashing
debt, we can make California more recession-resistant and prosperity a
more enduring hallmark of our state."
Income
tax receipts exceeded the Governor’s expectations by $721.7 million, or
45.7 percent. Corporate tax receipts came in ahead of estimates by
$87.4 million,
or 236.2 percent. Sales and use taxes were $113.7 million above, or 3.9
percent, expectations in the Governor's 2014-15 proposed budget.
The
State ended the month with a General Fund cash deficit of $14.1
billion, which was covered with both internal and external borrowing.
That figure was down
from last year, when the State faced a cash deficit of $16.2 billion at
the end of February 2013.
