Georgia Legislative Watch

Tax collections took another dive in March:

State tax collections were off $167 million in March, the fourth consecutive bad month for a government already trying to deal with the worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression.

Collections were off 14.5 percent from March 2008. For the fiscal year, which ends June 30, tax collections are down $1 billion or 8 percent.

March’s decline was actually an improvement over February, when the tax take was off by about one-third.

The news comes only a few days after state lawmakers passed a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that is balanced with $1.3 billion in federal stimulus money and $1.6 billion worth of spending cuts.

The poor collections in March included a 18.8 percent drop in income tax collections and a 5.9 percent decline in the sales tax take. Income and sales tax collections make up the largest share of the state’s income.

Collections have been off every month since November.