TOPEKA — State tax collections in Kansas the past two months resembled a yo-yo with collections in April surging $101 million beyond anticipated levels and dipping $193 million below estimates in May.
Mark Burghart, secretary of the Kansas Department of Revenue, said the fluctuation was due to the addition of two tax payment days in April and implementation of a more effective processing system that transferred tax payments to April that would normally have been recorded in May.
So far in the 2024 fiscal year, Kansas tax revenue from July 2023 to May stood at $8.97 billion. That was $92 million, or 1%, less than economists and fiscal analysts predicted for the 11-month period. The fiscal year ends June 30.
“The expected shortfall in May individual income tax collections can be largely attributed to the two additional processing days in April,” Burghart said. “Combined with more efficient payment processing, the Department of Revenue was able to process significantly more payments in April which would have typically been processed in May.”
He had warned last month that receipts in May would likely be lower than the estimate because the April tally was significantly greater than projected.
Running totals of state tax revenue and status of the state’s multibillion-dollar revenue surplus play into the political calculus of Gov. Laura Kelly and the Kansas Legislature ahead of a special legislation session starting June 18.
The primary objective of the special session would be to find political agreement on a bill lowering property, sales and income taxes without wiping out a cash surplus in the treasury within three or five years.
The Democratic governor called the special session after vetoing several tax-cut bills passed by the Republican-led Legislature during the regular 2024 session.
The Department of Revenue said the state received total tax collections of $658.9 million in May. That was $193 million, or 22.7%, below the estimate for that month. Total tax collections this May were down 23.1% from May 2023.
One month earlier in April, the state agency reported total tax revenue of $1.4 billion. That was $101 million, or 7.7%, above the consensus projection for April. It surpassed by 9.6% total tax revenue to the state in April 2023.
