PA budget deficit at $658 million

Gov. Ed Rendell must be running out of fingers to plug the leaks in the budget dike he and Pennsylvania legislators created this year.

Just five months into the current fiscal year, officials are reporting a $658 million deficit in the state's General Fund budget. If the current trend continues, the state would be facing a deficit of $2 billion by the end of the fiscal year.

Acting Revenue Secretary Stephen H. Stetler reported Monday that Pennsylvania collected $1.6 billion in General Fund revenue in November -- $93.1 million, or 5.4 percent, less than anticipated.

It is the fifth month in a row the state took in less than it spent.

Fiscal year-to-date General Fund collections total $9 billion, which is $657.9 million, or 6.8 percent, below estimate, according to Stetler.

"In light of the economic downturn that is affecting state revenues across the nation, Gov. Rendell asked staff to identify additional spending cuts on top of the $311 million identified in September," Budget Secretary Mary Soderberg said in a written statement, adding that Pennsylvania is weathering the "economic storm better than many states."

The tax revenue news is bad across the board.

From the monthly recap of tax revenues released by the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue:

Sales tax receipts totaled $648.3 million for November, $24.7 million below estimate. Sales tax collections, year-to-date, total $3.6 billion, which is $115.8 million, or 3.1 percent, less than anticipated.

Personal income tax (PIT) revenue in November was $765.1 million, $4.2 million below estimate. This brings year-to-date PIT collections to $3.8 billion, which is $76.6 million, or 2 percent, below estimate.

November corporation tax revenue of $51.2 million was $28.6 million below estimate. Year-to-date corporation tax collections total $815.7 million, which is $149.5 million, or 15.5 percent, below estimate.

Other General Fund revenue figures for the month included $60.3 million in inheritance tax, $1.8 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $330.6 million, which is $24.3 million below estimate.

Realty transfer tax was $24.3 million for November, $4.3 million below estimate, bringing the total to $157.2 million for the year, which is $27.7 million less than anticipated.

Other General Fund tax revenue including cigarette, malt beverage and liquor taxes totaled $93.7 million for the month, $2 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to $443.7 million, which is $10.8 million below estimate.

Non-tax revenue totaled -$2.1 million for the month, $27.6 million below estimate, bringing the year-to-date total to -$124 million, which is $253.3 million below estimate.

In addition to the General Fund collections, the Motor License Fund received $256.9 million for the month, $43.2 million below estimate. Fiscal year-to-date collections for the fund total $1 billion, which is $112.5 million, or 9.8 percent, below estimate.

Republican lawmakers, including Mike Turzai, Curt Schroder and Sam Rohrer warned Rendell and their colleagues during the budget debate in June and July that the $28.3 billion General Fund budget would lead to massive deficits.