New York’s tax collections are falling short of expectations, according to state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (above). (Brigitte Stelzer)
ALBANY — Weaker-than-expected tax collections and continued high unemployment are putting the squeeze on the state treasury.
Tax revenues came in $147 million below projections in the first five months of the fiscal year and $204 million lower than last year for the same period, according to a report released yesterday by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
The report showed tax collections of $24.7 billion for the period, reflecting a 1.2 percent dip in revenue from personal income taxes compared with last year.
“Almost halfway through the state’s fiscal year, the state’s budget is still on relatively solid ground, but weak revenue collections and slow economic growth signal a need for caution going forward,” DiNapoli said.
DiNapoli’s office has warned that many economists’ forecasts of activity over the coming months have softened since the budget was adopted on April 1, so the lower tax revenue wasn’t a shock.
The shortfall is still just a fraction of the $132.5 billion budget for the fiscal year that began in April. It increases spending by 1.9 percent.
Cuomo didn’t seem surprised by weak collections.
“On our numbers, we are roughly where we projected to be. We’re not seeing any rapid increase or decrease,” Gov. Cuomo said.
At the same time, the governor’s budget director instructed commissioners to prepare for a zero-based budgeting with no increase in spending.
“I would say they are lucky at zero percent!” Cuomo said yesterday. “Zero is high. We still have a $1 billion deficit. We are not in a position to spend money.”
Meanwhile, the state Labor Department yesterday released new job numbers that show the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.1 percent — a full point higher than the 8.1 percent national rate — despite more than 102,000 private-sector jobs added this year and 3,300 new jobs in August alone.
The number of unemployed New Yorkers increased slightly in August, to 872,100 from 869,400 in July.
There was some good news: The unemployment rate in New York City dipped slightly, to 9.9 percent in August from 10 percent in July, the Labor Department said, and the state has regained all the jobs it lost during the recession. Also, first-time unemployment claims are down 10 percent from a year ago.
Since November 2009, when New York began its climb out of the recession, the state has added 350,000 jobs, bringing the overall total to 7.3 million.
State officials said New York is one of only five states to regain all the jobs lost in the recession.