Tennessee general fund collections fall $6M short

Friday, September 14, 2012, Vol. 36, No. 37

NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee's tax collections have fallen short of projections in the first month of the budget year.

Finance Commissioner Mark Emkes said in a release Friday that the weak revenues reflect a slow economic recovery on the national level.

The state's total general fund collections for August were $660 million, or about $6 million less than budgeted. The August collections reflect economic activity in the previous month.

Sales taxes grew by just 1.1 percent during the month to $569 million, or nearly $16 million below expectations. But corporate franchise and excise taxes beat projections by $5 million.

Sales tax collections posted a 6.6 percent annual growth rate in the budget year that ended June 30, while corporate taxes grew by 22 percent.