Treasury Dept. reports $793M in net revenue collections in Oct.
Net revenues to Puerto Rico’s General Fund totaled $739 million in October 2018, the highest for a month of October since 2013, Treasury Secretary Teresita Fuentes said.
Revenues totaled $469 million in October 2017, “the most affected month, with the lowest revenue the whole year,” due to the effects of the passage of Hurricanes Irma and María, she said.
For this reason, October revenues this year are not totally comparable with last year’s, she added.
Based on total revenues for the fiscal year as projected in the Fiscal Plan certified on June 29, 2018, October 2018 revenues exceeded the projections for the month by $163.9 million.
Monthly revenues have exceeded projections consecutively for each of the four months of the present fiscal year, the agency confirmed.
Fiscal year-to-date revenues totaled $2.98 billion and were $494.7 million above projections for said period.
On Oct. 23, 2018, the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico certified a new Fiscal Plan that included a revision of projected revenues to the General Fund for fiscal year 2018-19 from $8.4 billion to $10.2 billion.
The Treasury Secretary explained that beginning in November 2018, the Treasury Department will assess revenue behavior by comparing net revenues for each month with the revenue projections of the Fiscal Plan Certified on June 29, 2018 and on Oct. 23, 2018.
The corporate and individual income tax categories were the main revenue drivers. The motor vehicle excise tax category continues to perform favorably as well, she said, with collections totaling $55.5 million in October 2018, the highest level for a month of October in a 15-year period.
Lastly, Sales and Use Tax collections at the 10.5 percent rate totaled $229.2 million in October, a month-over-month increase of $7.2 million. SUT revenues will be distributed as follows: $119.4 million to the Sales Tax Financing Corporation (COFINA by its initials in Spanish,) $98.9 million to the General Fund, and $10.9 million, corresponding to the 0.5 percent, to the municipalities.
