Ohio has made what the state’s chief financial officer called a “modest” start to its 2025 fiscal year, according to the latest figures from the Office of Budget and Management (OBM).
Monthly figures released Monday showed that the state collected 0.5% more tax revenue in July 2024 than in July 2023, totaling about $10 million in additional revenue over the same period last year.
In a preliminary statement Friday outlooking the report, Director Kimberly Murnieks said the revenues in the report were “solid for the start of the new fiscal year.”
The agency cited the vehicle sales tax as the biggest growth driver, increasing 6.8% from July last year to July this year. On the other hand, non-vehicle sales tax revenues fell 1.4% year-on-year. Personal income tax revenues were $1.6 million, or 0.2%, higher in July 2024 than in July 2023, while business tax revenues were $2.6 million lower, a 2.3% decline.
The state’s two-year budget, which was passed in mid-2023, envisaged the abolition of trade tax for 90% of companies starting in May. According to the OBM, this has not yet been taken into account in the monthly report, as the first quarterly revenues are due on August 15.
The more modest growth comes about a month after Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law a record $4.2 billion capital spending budget. That two-year package of appropriations included more than $700 million in one-time funding for community projects, drawn from surplus funds from previous fiscal years that were boosted by COVID-19 relief funds.
And in the second half of fiscal year 2024, tax revenues fell short nearly every month. At the time, legislative leaders – who have supported income tax cuts and praised the state’s financial position – said they were concerned but were not yet sounding alarm bells.
According to OBM, the first estimates for the financial year will be published in the monthly figures in September.
