It's official -- Idaho ends budget year with record surplus of nearly $900 million

[TexasTowelie]

Money may go toward tax cuts, education investments and one-time infrastructure projects


The state of Idaho closed the books on the 2021 budget year on June 30 with a record surplus of nearly $900 million on hand, Gov. Brad Little announced Tuesday.

Now that June revenue numbers are finalized — and again beat state forecasts — Idaho officials know that they closed out the 2021 fiscal year with a surplus of about $893.4 million. That’s even better than things looked just over a month ago, when state officials were expecting a surplus of about $809 million 11 months into the fiscal year (Idaho runs on a fiscal year, or budget year, that runs from July 1 to June 30).

Overall, the state set several budget and revenue records during the just-completed fiscal year.

• For the first time in Idaho history, state revenues surpassed $5 billion in one fiscal year, setting a new record in terms of dollars.
• Compared to the previous years, revenue grew by 24.2%. That represents the largest increase in revenue for any year that records are available, Little’s office said.
• The month of May was the largest revenue month in state history, as revenues beat the forecast by $580 million.

What’s the reason for the giant surplus? In simplest terms, revenues are up and greatly outperformed the state forecasts. Income tax filings beat forecasts by $469 million and sales tax revenues were up $166 million over projections.

Read more: https://idahocapitalsun.com/2021/07/20/its-official-idaho-ends-budget-year-with-record-surplus-of-nearly-900-million/

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. A budget surplus in a Republican state is unheard of....

Here in Minnesota, anytime there has been a surplus, Republicans right away want rebates sent out to taxpayers. When that has happened, we went into deficits into the Billions. That was under Jesse Ventura and Tim Pawlenty. It took Mark Dayton almost 6 years to get us back in the black for good, until COVID hit. That surplus we had was due in part to budget restraints and tax increases on the very rich in this state.

Yet, Minnesota ranks in the top 5 best states to live and do business in despite our higher taxes than surrounding states.

[Sibelius Fan]

2. Here in CA we ended up with a $76-BILLION surplus. Gov Newsom by law needs to return

about $16B of that to the citizens of CA. He’s made some great choices so far.

https://apnews.com/article/california-health-personal-taxes-immigration-business-555e6ec5ba03fa7a0eaade211df21c08