Committee: Revenue and Transportation Interim Committee
Author: Megan Moore
Posted on November 21, 2018
The Revenue and Transportation Interim Committee met Nov. 19 in Helena to adopt a revenue estimate for FY 2019 and the 2021 Biennium. The revenue estimate, which will be introduced as House Joint Resolution 2, is an estimate of general fund revenue and selected nongeneral fund revenue. Revenues are estimated by revenue source, and significant assumptions are also included in the estimate. The revenue estimate is used for ensuring the budget is balanced, which is a constitutional requirement, and for preparation of fiscal notes.
The committee received independent estimates from the Legislative Fiscal Division and the Governor’s Office of Budget and Program Planning. The estimates presented by the two offices differed by just $46.3 million, or 0.6%, for the 3-year period. Following the presentations, the committee adopted the Legislative Fiscal Division estimate with an adjustment to the corporate income tax estimate to reflect possible taxpayer behavior changes resulting from last year’s federal tax law changes. This adjustment lowers the Legislative Fiscal Division estimate by $23.5 million over the 3-year period and brings the difference between the two estimates to $22.8 million.
The adopted general fund revenue estimates are $2,463,527,000 for FY 2019, $2,513,558,000 for FY 2020, and $2,590,661,000 for FY 2021. State law requires the estimate to be prepared by Dec. 1. The estimate will be posted online after drafting is complete.
In addition to adopting the revenue estimate, the committee also received a required report from the Department of Revenue on tax rates for residential, commercial, and agricultural property that will result in taxable value neutrality among those property classes.
The November meeting was the committee’s final meeting of the 2017-2018 interim. Legislation requested by the committee is available on the committee website and final reports for the committee’s three assigned studies are posted to the committee topic page for each study.
Questions about the work of the committee may be directed to committee staff Megan Moore at memoore@mt.gov or 406-444-4496.
