State Tax Payments Roll in But More Refunds Than Expected

As of April 23, the Franchise Tax Board has received  just over $6 billion in stat e income tax payments this month — $2.4 billion less than Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget predicts the agency will receive through April 30.

The Democratic governor has already acknowledged he and lawmakers must fill a budget hole that’s at least $800 million larger than he estimated in January – about $10 billion.

Brown hopes April’s tax receipts at least meet expectations. If not, the budget hole deepens. If expectations are exceeded, the hole shrinks.

April is by far the largest month of the year for income tax receipts.

The Democratic governor expects a net total of $9.4 billion in both payments to the tax board and withholding from employee paychecks, which is sent by employers to the Employment Development Department.

 In addition to what the tax board receives, Brown predicts the employment department to pocket a little over $3.2 billion.

That $3.2 billion plus the board’s $8.4 billion adds up to gross receipts of approximately $11.6 billion.

Brown’s budget writers also expected there to be requests for refunds of almost $2.1 billion.

Refund requests are already at $2.3 billion.

Total tax receipts less refunds equal the month’s net total.

 State Controller John Chiang keeps a daily tally of net income tax collections for April. It shows total collections less refund requests to be nearly $5.8 billion through April 20.

April is also the third largest month for bank and corporation tax collections. The budget estimates just over $1.5 billion will be paid.

Through April 23, less than $1.2 billion has been received.

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