State tax collections came in below estimates in March, and that could hurt efforts to balance the state budget. The Department of Revenue says tax collections were 19 million dollars below estimates. The House and Senate have crafted budget plans aimed at leaving the state with a surplus at the end of next fiscal year, but tax collection shortfalls could erase that projected ending balance. Senate President Steve Morris, a Hugoton Republican, says lawmakers do still have the option of altering the budget plans.
Morris says it wasn’t all bad news. March 2011 tax collections were up by $18 million over than the same month last year.