State government is projected to spend as much as 13 billion dollars more than it will collect in taxes this year. That's according to a recent report by the General Assembly's bipartisan budget analysts.
Revenue manager Jim Muschinske notes that collection of sales tax has been essentially flat from July through November.
“Seventy percent of the economy is driven by the consumer, so anytime they take a pause, it’s a little bit of a concern," he says.
He also says there's low performance with income and corporate taxes.
Mushinske and his colleagues already had modest expectations for tax collection this year. With a rise of just two percent, their projections are about a billion dollars less than Governor Bruce Rauner's more optimistic scenario.
