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Senate Appropriations Committee ReportCommittee Website (all tables and graphics can be viewed online) April Personal Income Tax Revenues Rebound StronglyGeneral Fund revenue collections for April exceeded the monthly estimate by $464.9 million. General Fund revenues are now $828.5 million above the estimate for the year-to-date with two months remaining in the fiscal year. General Fund revenues were buoyed by continued strong collections in corporate net income tax and sales and use tax, but a rebound in personal income tax (PIT) collections stole the show as PIT collections came in at $330.5 million above estimate for the month. The significant shortfall in final quarterly estimated payments for the 2018 tax year due in December and January was overcome by robust annual PIT payments made with the filing of tax returns in April 2019. It appears that tax liability payment patterns are being affected by changes in federal tax law which altered the deductibility of state and local taxes (SALT) on federal tax returns. Because of limitations placed on the deductibility of SALT, many Pennsylvania taxpayers had little or no incentive to make quarterly estimated payments for 2018 beyond some necessary minimum amount in the months of December and January. Essentially, the surplus of annual payments for April is a true-up of payments that normally would have been paid sooner in years prior to the federal tax changes. April General Fund Revenue:
Fiscal Year 2018-19 vs. the Official Revenue Estimate To-Date:
Fiscal Year 2018-19 vs. FY 2017-18:
Motor License Fund:
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Passenger Car RegistrationAct 89 of 2013 eliminated the requirement to place a registration sticker on your license plate effective December 31, 2016. Customers are still required to maintain current vehicle registration. Between 2010 and 2016, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation saw an annual average increase of 71,000 new passenger car registrations. After the removal of the stickers on January 1, 2017, passenger car registrations for 2017 decreased by 184,243, costing the Motor License Fund $6.8 million in revenue over 2016. Fines collected due to violations for driving without a valid registration have dropped swiftly in 2017. Law enforcement face a significant challenge in knowing if a vehicle is unregistered due to the lack of a visible sticker. Prior to the elimination of the stickers, Pennsylvania collected an average of $13 million to $14 million annually in fines for driving without a valid registration violations. State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) New Member Retirement Plan EnrollmentsAs part of the pension reform legislation that was enacted last session (Act 5 of 2017), new hires who begin state employment after January 1, 2019 are automatically enrolled into A-5 class of service and within 45 days have the option to choose to participate in two other retirement plans: the A-6 class of service and the Defined Contribution Investment Plan. The A-5 class of service and A-6 class of service are hybrid pension plans. A hybrid plan is a plan where a portion of an employee’s retirement benefit comes from a traditional defined benefit plan and a portion comes from a defined contribution investment plan supported by both employee and employer contributions plus the amount of money earned from investments. The Defined Contribution Investment Plan option is a straight investment plan supported by both employee and employer contributions plus the amount of money earned from investments. Based on information provided by the SERS, through the first three months of the year, 1,497 new hires enrolled in SERS. Of the new hires, 1,432, or 95.7%, enrolled in the A-5 class of service; 45, or 3%, enrolled the A-6 class of service; and 20, or 1.3%, enrolled in the Defined Contribution Investment |
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