LANSING, Mich. (MIRS News) – Michigan’s tax revenue from major taxes and lottery revenue for March was down 21.5% from March and $104.5 million below the Senate Fiscal Agency’s projection for the month, the agency reported Wednesday.

For the fiscal year, General Fund projections are $200.7 million below projections while School Aid Fund revenue is holding at $8.1 million above projections, according to the SFA.

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The numbers spurred Sen. Jon Bumstead (R-North Muskegon), the Senate Republicans’ ranking vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, to issue a call to legislators to “strive for fiscal responsibility.”

“We can see our revenue streams are showing signs of a slowing economy,” Bumstead said. “The people of Michigan cannot afford to bear the cost of the largest budget in state history as presented by the governor earlier this year.”

According to the House Fiscal Agency, March collections totaled nearly $2.03 billion, which was $583 million less than what was collected in March 2022. The report stated year-to-date revenue was $956 million lower this year than last year, and the total collection for 2023 has been nearly $12 billion. The collection in 2022 was nearly $13 billion.

The House Fiscal Agency report estimates pulling in nearly $34 billion in 2023, which is 2.2% lower than 2022. The current collection percentage is 7.4% lower than last year.

February was also a slow month for revenue.

Business taxes were up $145.7 million and consumption taxes were up $190.4 million higher than 2022. Sales taxes were also up $312.6 million. Tobacco taxes dropped by $30.8 million from 2022 while marijuana taxes bumped up $30.1 million.

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Lottery transfers to the School Aid Fund were down $21 million from 2022. There was nearly $1.2 billion collected for the School Aid Fund from major taxes, which is about $800,000 above the estimate from January.

Meanwhile, a group released a study using numbers from 2021 to say there is a $4.5 billion education funding gap. The study didn’t add any federal funding numbers and used the baseline per-pupil funding from a 2018 study.

“We’ve seen big increases, nominally from the state, but we’ve also seen record levels of inflation since the 1980s. So, those inflation levels really do eat away at a lot of those increases,” said Michigan Education Association Labor Economist Tanner DELPIER.

Rep. Regina Weiss (D-Oak Park) was asked if the $6 billion in federal money could be used to make up, or had been used to make up, the funding gap.

“I don’t think we have $6 billion one-time dollars, either. That’s more around four-ish, I want to say,” Weiss said.