The preliminary general revenue tax receipts for the month of March were released by Ohio’s OBM. The good news is that the state of Ohio is still above yearly tax receipt estimates. Ohio closes the third quarter of the 2020 fiscal year in the black. The bad news is that March saw revenue fall below estimates. Both non-auto and general sales tax receipts were below estimates. In total, sales tax receipts were down by $68 million for the month.

Income tax also showed a decrease. It missed the estimate by $22.3 million. To make matters worse, with the movement of the tax filing deadline to July 15, the normally robust income tax receipts for April will fall below estimates, and those receipts will also be recorded in the next fiscal year. 

Additional economic data will be released on Friday, but it will be too early to see any significant changes to the spending cuts asked for by the governor when the COVID-19 public health emergency began in March. The governor asked his agencies to cut travel expenses, implement hiring freezes and for most agencies to decrease general spending by 20%. Those measures will help slow the rate of spending and cushion the lower amount of revenue the state will likely receive during the fourth quarter. Keep in mind that the state of Ohio must have a balanced budget at the close of the fiscal year (June 30, 2020).