The state of Indiana is poised to end its 2022 budget year next month with an unprecedented $6 billion — or more — in its reserve accounts.
Data recently released by the State Budget Agency show Indiana in April crushed its monthly revenue target by taking in a whopping $3.3 billion in tax revenue.
That was $496.9 million, or 17.5%, more than predicted by the December 2021 revised state revenue forecast, and an incredible $929.7 million, or 38.7%, more than Hoosier lawmakers expected Indiana would collect for the month when they crafted the two-year state budget in April 2021.
The revised revenue forecast already anticipated Indiana would close its financial books on June 30, 2022, with $5.1 billion in excess revenue, or 28.9% of expenditures for the year.
However, with January-April revenue exceeding even the revised expectations by a combined $842.1 million, and two more huge revenue months still to come, Indiana is all but certain to crack the $6 billion mark and potentially could hit $7 billion in extra revenue.
In general, Hoosier lawmakers try to maintain a budget reserve of about $2 billion, or 10-12% of expenditures.
Republican legislative leaders aren't yet saying what they plan to do with all the extra money, and the General Assembly isn't due to convene again until January, aside from a one-day session May 24 to adopt technical corrections to pending new laws and to consider overriding the governor's veto of legislation banning trans girls from participating in girls' sports at Indiana schools.
In March, GOP budget leaders rejected a Democratic proposal to temporarily suspend the state's 32 cents per gallon gasoline tax and the state sales tax on gasoline, currently at 24.1 cents per gallon, to give Hoosiers a break amid record-setting fuel prices.
Suspending the fuel taxes would reduce state revenue by approximately $125 million a month, according to the nonpartisan Indiana Legislative Services Agency.
That means the excess state revenue for April alone could have covered nearly four months with zero state taxes on gasoline, dropped the price at the pump below $4 per gallon across Indiana and still left Indiana with a record-setting $5-6 billion budget reserve.
State Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, the top Democrat on the budget-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said he believes Republicans just want to hoard the money, instead of using it in productive ways to help Hoosiers.
"It is time to answer our moral and legal obligation to use taxpayer dollars responsibly while providing real relief to hardworking Hoosiers," Porter said. "Budget leaders need to work in coordination with the governor to provide relief at the gas pumps, investments in pre-K and traditional K-12 public schools, alleviate student loan debt and address the ailments of an affordable-housing crisis."
"More than enough resources are available to make transformational investments as Hoosiers reel from the crippling burden of the highest inflation rates in 40 years."
House Republican leaders did not respond to a request for comment on the state's unprecedented revenue growth and budget reserve.
Earlier this month, state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, wrote in The Times that suspending the state's fuel taxes would "hurt" Hoosiers by putting road and bridge funding in competition with all other state spending, instead of maintaining a dedicated revenue stream for transportation projects.
He also argued the $303 a year the average Hoosier pays in fuel taxes is a relatively cheap "user fee" compared to the cost of repairing a flat tire or broken windshield.
Separately, most Hoosier adults already have received, or soon will receive, an electronic deposit or paper check for $125 as an automatic taxpayer refund of excess state revenue at the June 30, 2021, end of Indiana's prior budget year.
The total cost of that refund, $545.4 million, is just $48.5 million more than Indiana's excess revenue for last month alone.
© Copyright 2024, nwitimes.com, Munster, IN