By now everyone and their mother has written a piece about the August decline of general and road fund receipts in Kentucky.

But let’s do something different. I’ll share a few highlights and then let you review the release and report from State Budget Director Mary Lassiter for yourself.

• General Fund receipts fell 1.8% with total revenues at $622.4 million (compared to $633.7 million in August 2008). The General Fund has fallen 2.9% so far this year.
• Road Fund receipts fell 0.4% from August 2008 to $116.5 million.

Some stats on major accounts:

• Individual income taxes declined 4.2%
• Sales tax revenues fell 8.1% in August after an 8.2% drop in July
• Corporate taxes increased $6.1 million
• Cigarette taxes grew 83.3%
• Property taxes rose 5%
• Coal severance taxes fell 11.9%
• Lottery revenues increased 3.6%

Not exactly a pretty picture to be painting.

View the release and report:

August 2009 Budget Report – PDF Link

Sometimes seeing the actual document is more powerful than reading a story.