Net Minnesota tax collections were $2.3 billion in February and March, up nearly 5 percent from officials' projections in February, the Minnesota Management and Budget Office (MMB) reported Friday.
Revenues collected from individual and corporate income taxes and other miscellaneous revenues exceeded expectations for the month, officials said Monday. Individual income taxes for both months generated $850 million, about $21 million more than previously forecast. Sales tax receipts for October were down about $7 million.
Contained in Friday's report was an indication that low gas prices will spur economic activity in the state. MMB economists likened the low gas prices to tax cuts, "freeing up disposable income for spending on non-gasoline goods and services."
If low oil prices hold through the end of the year, economists estimate that spending on gasoline by Minnesotans will be as much as $2-billion less in 2015 than last year -- a savings of about $900 per household.
