State tax collections down $3 million

Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008 | 5:37 p.m.

CARSON CITY – The state came up $3 million short of predicted tax collections, but a spokesman for the governor says there’s no cause for alarm.

The state Budget Division released a tally of the taxes received in the fiscal year that ended June 30, showing $2.714 billion was taken in. The Economic Forum, which provides the forecasts on which the state builds its budget, had predicted tax revenues of $2.717 billion.

Ben Kieckhefer, press secretary for Gov. Jim Gibbons, said he doesn’t see the state having to make additional budget cuts and there is no need for a special session of the Legislature.

The trend, he said, is not good. But the $3 million should be made up by extra money coming from the tax amnesty program, which allows businesses and citizens to pay back taxes without any penalty until Sept. 30.

Gibbons has ordered all agencies to prepare 14 percent cuts to their proposed budgets for the coming two fiscal years.

The Economic Forum met in June to forecast tax revenue for last fiscal year and this year. For instance it predicted the gaming tax would yield $786 million last fiscal year, but it came in at only $771.8 million. The gaming tax missed predicted levels by the widest margin of any tax category.

The state’s 2 percent share of the sales tax yielded $966 million, or $1.3 million more than predicted by the Economic Forum.

These two taxes produce about 60 percent of the state’s collections.