State General Fund Tax Receipts Up 5.8%

Hawaii tax receipts add up. File photo.

By Sonia Isotov

Five months into the current 2012 fiscal year, general fund deposits are up by 17.9% statewide compared with the 2011 fiscal year, according to new figures released by the Hawaii State Department of Taxation.

If the $187.4 million accrued refunds that were released in July 2010 are factored out, general fund deposits would increase by 5.8%.

General excise and use tax collections (GE), the largest single category of tax collections, were $206.5 million for the month of November 2011, increasing by 8.0% over the previous year. State fiscal year runs from July to June of each year.

Cumulative GE taxes collected statewide for the 2011-2012 fiscal year amounted to $1.08 billion as compared to the previous fiscal year when $1 billion dollars had been collected by November, or almost a 5% increase year-over-year.

Transient accommodations tax (TAT) collections were $22.6 million for the month. Compared to the 2011 fiscal year, TAT collections are up by 15.1%.

Cumulative TAT for the 2011-2012 fiscal year amounted to $126.3 million compared to $109.8 million for the previous year, or a 13% increase year-over-year through November.