April’s Over: State Falls $3.3 Billion Short on Tax Collections

The final tally for April income tax collections reported by the Franchise Tax Board is just over $7.6 billion — roughly $2.9 billion short of the $10.5 billion Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expected in his January budget proposal.

Bank and corporations taxes, predicted to total $1.9 billion for the month, were $1.5 billion, worsening the state’s budget hole by another $400 million.

On the final day of April, a month which generates 17 percent of the fiscal year’s income tax revenue, the Employment Development Department reported $158 million in withholding for 2010 taxes and the tax board logged $89 million in 2009 tax payments, after subtracting refund requests.

Democratic legislative leaders Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Perez travel to Washington D.C. May 3 through May 5 to speak to Obama administration officials and members of Congress about more federal funds for California.

The GOP governor, members of his Department of Finance and legislative budget writers wish them every success.

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