Treasury collections up $43.5M in Nov., beat projections
The Puerto Rico Treasury Department released November and year-to-date results.
General Fund net revenues totaled $533.9 million in November, up by $45.3 million, or 9.3 percent, compared to November 2015, and by $43.8 million, or 8.9 percent, compared to estimates, Treasury Secretary Juan Zaragoza-Gómez confirmed Wednesday.
Fiscal year-to-date (July-November) net revenues to the General Fund totaled $3.17 billion, for an increase of $120.7 million, or 4.0 percent, year-over-year. Similarly, revenues exceeded estimates for the five-month period by $103.8 million, he said.
Zaragoza-Gómez emphasized as a positive fact “that the revenue behavior in this government transition year is exceeding the estimates.”
“Revenues for the year of the previous government transition [2012-13] as of November 2012 were below estimates by $107 million and as of December 2012, by $258 million. The current revenue behavior is very different, and the first six months of the fiscal year are expected to end with a positive balance,” he said.
In November, the main categories responsible for the revenue increase compared to estimates are the corporate income tax, the 4 percent excise tax on foreign corporations, and the Sales and Use Tax (SUT) collections.
As for the federal excise tax on shipments of rum, the federal government refund was delayed this month and revenues will be reflected in December, the agency noted.
The agency’s numbers showed that SUT revenues totaled $211 million in November, $19.5 million, or 10.2 percent, above November 2015 SUT collections. Fiscal year-to-date SUT revenues totaled $1.04 billion, approximately $140.5 million more than last year.
The Sales Tax Financing Corp., known as COFINA in Spanish, has received $591.7 million, $26.2 million more than last year as of the same month.
On the other hand, $444.1 million have gone to the General Fund, that is, $114.3 million more compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year.
Moreover, estimates for said period were surpassed by $29.4 million, or 7.1 percent, the agency said.
