State Comptroller Nancy S. Wyman said today that the estimated budget deficit for 2010 rose by $1.7 mllion last month to $515 million.
“While revenues are showing some signs of stabilizing, virtually every tax category is still down from where it was last year at this time,” Wyman said.
Sales tax revenue was off 7.3 percent through December, worse than the 4.6 percent drop assumed in the budget. Income tax revenues were supposed to grow 3.8 percent, but collections are down 2.7 percent.
Wyman blamed job losses: The state has lost 21,000 jobs since the start of the fiscal year in July and 94,000 since the start of the recession in March 2008.
The state counts on the income tax for more than one-third of the $18.6 billion budget.