Idaho tax revenue in January was $12.8 million below forecasts, as individual income tax payers trailed expectations a fourth month in a row.
Mike Ferguson, Governor Butch Otter’s chief economist, says changes to federal tax law mean fewer Idaho residents making early tax payments.
It’s that, rather than even more pronounced weakness in the economy, that’s the likely culprit behind the lower collections.
As a result, Ferguson told Democratic lawmakers Tuesday he sees no reason to abandon his revenue expectations for the current fiscal year and for 2011, which starts next July.
Ferguson says unlike the last two years, he “wouldn’t advise making a change in the forecasts.”
But taking such an optimistic view could set up a conflict with pessimistic legislators who have already proposed cutting Idaho’s budgets by $128 million more than Otter’s own plans over two years. (AP)
