Tenn. ends budget year with $42M surplus
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The state has finshed the budget year with a $42 million general fund surplus.
Tennessee collected $342 million more than originally projected by the State Funding Board for the 2012-2013 budget year, but the panel revised that prediction upward by $306 million in December. Collections still came out above those estimates.
Over the course of the budget year, sales taxes grew by 1.8 percent and corporate taxes increased by 9 percent.
A spokesman for Gov. Bill Haslam said there it was too early to say what the surplus would be used for.
The Republican’s administration chose to bank most of the $333 million surplus the state collected last year, despite calls by Democrats to use the money to defray tuition increases or reduce the state’s sales tax on groceries.
