State tax revenues drop

As Georgia legislators prepare to get to work on next year’s budget, they were met with some dour revenue reports – December tax collections were down some 5% over 2022.  While net tax revenue for the first half of FY2023 was up 1.5%, that hike was due to the end of the suspension of the state fuel tax.  Without that buffer tax revenue was down 2.5%.  That’s cause for concern for the state’s budget writers as they prepare to hear pleas for billons of dollars of funding from agencies up and down the state.   While Georgia’s $16 billion budget surplus creates a buffer, it’s not a positive economic sign that tax revenues are SINKING…