Missouri starts budget year with surge in revenue

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri's new fiscal year is off to a good start.

The governor's Office of Administration said Tuesday that the state took in $507.2 million in July, the first month of the fiscal year. That's a 5.2 percent increase over $482.4 million during the same period last year.

July is typically the slowest month of the year for collections. Combined with the revenue surplus from the previous year, Missouri revenue needs to increase only 2.8 percent for the rest of the year to meet estimates for which this year's budget was based.

Income tax collections in July increased 7.3 percent from a year ago while sales and use tax collections jumped 6.4 percent. Corporate taxes declined 35.2 percent.