By Gordon Byrd
Aug 2, 2021
TALLAHASSEE (News Service of Florida)--- Florida ended the 2020-2021 fiscal year with a strong month of general-revenue collections, bolstered in part by federal stimulus cash and people spending money saved up during earlier stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report from state economists indicates.
The state brought in $4.1 billion in June, topping a general-revenue forecast for the month by $975.7 million. That means collections for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, which ended June 30, landed nearly $2.33 billion over an estimate crafted as the state started to reopen from the early stages of the pandemic.
The report from the Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Research said the fiscal year showed “widespread strength” from April through the end of June, with sales-tax revenue from tourism topping the forecast for the year by 6.7 percent. Also, taxes on automobile sales were above the forecast amount by 9.2 percent, and taxes on non-durable goods such as food, clothes and gas were up 3.9 percent.