After the first three months of the budget year, state revenues are over $47 million above projections.
“We’ve gone 34 consecutive months now with unemployment in Maine lower than four percent,” Finance Commissioner Alec Porteous. “Personal income grew 4.2 percent in 2017.”
State revenues continue their strong growth with both income and sales taxes exceeding projections. Strong auto sales, says Porteous, have driven the sales tax numbers. Individual income taxes are running better than 8 percent above last year, and corporate income taxes continue to come in significantly above estimates.
“Auto sales have been particularly strong over the past two months,” says Porteous. “On the individual side, withholding has been very strong. We are eight percent over where we were in the first quarter of last year for withholding.”
