2014 is only halfway over, but Illinois' new fiscal year just began last week. The state closed out its year with a billion-dollar growth in tax revenue.
The state took in $32 billion in revenue this past fiscal year, more than $7.6 billion of that in sales tax. That's up almost 4.5 percent from last year.
Jim Muschinske, who analyzes revenues for the state's forecasting commission, says that's not amazing, but it's a healthy increase.
Muschinske says some of that growth can be attributed to recovering auto sales in Illinois. Personal income tax revenue also grew.
But corporate tax revenue fell from the prior year. Muschinke says that's misleading, because in April 2013, the state received a one-time windfall in tax revenue.
"Seeing essentially flat income taxes for '14 really kind of masks the underlying decent growth that we saw," he said. "We really did quite well."
But that won't be the case next year — no matter what the economy does. Illinois' income tax rate is scheduled to rollback come January — midway through the fiscal year. State lawmakers have yet to agree on extending the higher rate.
