State budget writers will have slightly less to work with as they piece together a spending plan for next year.
That’s according to the latest revenue forecast from the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council (DEFAC).
The group projects that changes in the current fiscal year and fiscal year 2017 will leave the state with $12.6 million less than it forecast at its last meeting in December.
The drop is primarily due to expected losses in personal and corporate income tax revenue.
But Finance secretary Tom Cook pegs the effective difference at only 4.7 million. He says that’s because Gov. Markell’s proposed budget already factors in the 8.2 million in corporate income tax cuts enacted to help keep two DowDuPont spin-off companies in the First State.
“I think looking at this revenue projection it’s basically in line with what we did in December," said Cook. "So, really, there’s relatively no change.”
Monday's forecast is the first since Gov. Markell offered his budget proposal in January.
DEFAC’s next revenue forecast will come on April 18th.
The group also voted to move its May forecast from the 16th to the 23rd at the recommendation of state officials who say they’ll have more accurate numbers on tax collected following the state’s April 30th personal income tax filing deadline.
