New Jersey’s major revenue sources exceeded expectations in the first six months of the fiscal year, delivering nearly $12.6 billion to state coffers, the Department of the Treasury reported January 12. Overall growth was up 8.7 percent, well ahead of the projected rate of 4.2 percent for the full fiscal year, which ends in June. The state does not release revenue projections for specific months of the year.
Gross income tax, the state’s largest revenue source, had produced $6 billion in revenue by the end of December, an 11.7 percent increase from the same period last year and well above the 3.9 percent project growth rate for the year.
The treasury said a “significant portion” of the income tax growth is attributable to “to the stock market’s strong performance in 2017.”
Other major tax categories were off projections, however, with sales tax and corporate business tax revenue up just 1.6 percent, below their respective projected growth of 4.4 percent and 7.8 percent.
The state’s lottery — its revenues now dedicated to funding the state pension system — recorded 4.4 percent growth in the first six months of the year. It had collected $487 million.
Most of the state’s revenue arrives in the second half of the year. The fiscal year budget totals $34.7 billion budget, not counting the lottery’s contribution to the pension.