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NEWS from the Office of the New York State Comptroller
Contact: Press Office 518-474-4015

DiNapoli Releases April State Cash Report

May 23, 2016

New York state collected $8.2 billion in taxes during the first month of the 2016-17 fiscal year, a decline of $420.4 million or 4.9 percent from April 2015, according to the monthly state cash report issued today by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The year-over-year decline is primarily due to lower estimated personal income tax (PIT) payments as a result of weaker financial market performance in 2015 than in 2014.

"April tax receipts were in line with more conservative projections compared to just a few months ago as the economy has shown signs of slowing in the first quarter of the year," DiNapoli said. "New developments in the coming months and their impact on revenues must be monitored closely as the new fiscal year progresses."

Over the last ten years, April tax collections have averaged approximately 11 percent of total year-end tax receipts. April collections, especially in PIT, can be especially volatile due to changes in tax policies at both the state and federal levels as well as economic conditions. April 2016 PIT collections totaled nearly $6.4 billion, down 5 percent from April 2015. In turn, April 2015 collections were 25 percent higher than April 2014.

The state spent $10.5 billion in April, $2.8 billion higher than last year for the same period, primarily because of a $1.8 billion pension payment made this year that was paid after April last year. Other significant increases include spending for public health programs (up $376 million primarily because of the timing of payments for the Essential Plan Program) and Medicaid (up $377 million primarily from federal sources).

The General Fund ended April with a balance of $10.9 billion, which was $28.7 million higher than the latest projection and $549.1 million higher than last April 30.

See the April Cash Report, or go to: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/finance/cbr.htm

DiNapoli's office issues a state cash report every month identifying state revenues and spending from the prior month. The cash report focuses primarily on the General Fund and All Governmental Funds. The General Fund is the major operating fund of the state. All Governmental Funds includes General, Special Revenue, Debt Service and Capital Projects funds, as well as funds from the federal government. The report is now accessible in Excel and Adobe formats.

Since becoming Comptroller, DiNapoli has created several tools to allow the public to better track government spending, contracts and other fiscal issues. These are easily accessible on his transparency website called Open Book New York (www.openbooknewyork.com).