TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas is reporting that its tax collections for its just-concluded 2021 budget year were 9.3% more than anticipated.
That left the state with its healthiest cash reserves in more than 40 years as the national economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
The report Friday from the state Department of Revenue said the state collected $8.9 billion in general tax revenues for the budget year that ended Wednesday. That was $758 more than it expected - even after state officials and university economists issued a new, more optimistic fiscal forecast in mid-April.
The collections included a surplus of $509 million or nearly 94% for May and another of $157 million or 22.6% in June.
The state begun its 2022 budget year Thursday with cash reserves $1.9 billion or more. That is highest total amount ever and an amount equal to 25% of the spending financed with those general taxes. The state hasn't hit that percentage since at least July 1980, according to state budget documents.
The latest report could spark a push next year in the Republican-controlled Legislature to cut taxes again after GOP lawmakers enacted income tax cuts earlier this year over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto.
