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February Tax Collections Top Forecast
State economists continued to fret about inflation, the housing market and Floridians dipping deeper into personal savings, while announcing this week that February general-revenue tax collections were $6.6 million more than expected.
The Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research issued a report Wednesday that said state general-revenue collections in February totaled nearly $3.513 billion.
That was $6.6 million more than expected when the economists issued a forecast March 13. But it was $582.3 million more than projected in a forecast issued in August.
Sales taxes, driven in part by higher prices, were credited for 85 percent of the gain from the August forecast.
Meanwhile, documentary-stamp taxes, which are collected on real-estate transactions, came in 21.4 percent lower than anticipated in August because of “higher than expected mortgage rates and weaker than expected housing market prices,” according to Wednesday’s report.
Also, the report said people continue digging into their “savings to support personal consumption and first-round inflationary effects.”
The personal-saving rate was 4.6 percent in February, down from 4.7 percent in January.
As a benchmark, economists point to the 2018-2019 fiscal year, before the COVID-19 pandemic, when the saving rate stood at 7.9 percent.
General revenue is closely watched, as it plays a key role in funding schools, health programs and prisons.
