Capitol Beat is a nonprofit news service operated by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation that provides coverage of state government to newspapers throughout Georgia. For more information visit capitol-beat.org.

Georgia tax collections declined by 5% last month, down $159.1 million from the $3.21 billion in taxes the state Department of Revenue brought in during December of 2022.

Individual income tax receipts were down 3.6%, driven largely by a 114% increase in tax refunds issued to Georgia taxpayers.

Net sales tax collections rose by 1.4% in December compared to the same month in 2022.

Corporate income taxes declined by 16.1% last month due to the combination of a 64.7% increase in refunds and a 19.3% decrease in payments.

For the first half of the current fiscal year, which ended Dec. 31, net tax collections were up 1.6%. However, that was mainly because the state resumed collecting sales taxes on gasoline and other motor fuels at the end of November, while the tax was suspended during December of 2022.

Aside from the changes brought about by resuming the collection of the motor fuels tax, revenues for the first six months of fiscal 2024 were down 2.5% from the first half of the previous fiscal year.

The negative numbers might be expected to give pause to legislative budget writers, who will begin reviewing Gov. Brian Kemp’s spending recommendations next week. However, the state has built up a whopping $16 billion budget surplus during the last three years that should make current revenue trends of less concern than they would be otherwise.

Kemp will release his budget proposals to the General Assembly later this week.