State tax revenue up $134 million in August

Kemp bars cities, counties from mandating masks In this April 16, 2020, file photo, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp listens to a question from the press during a tour of a temporary hospital at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. (Ron Harris/Pool/AP, File)

By James Salzer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia tax collections improved again in August, the second consecutive strong monthly showing for an economy battered earlier this year by the COVID-19 pandemic recession.

The state announced Thursday that collections were up 7.7 %, or $134 million over August of 2019 and follow a jump in July numbers.

The positive report comes four months into the reopening of Georgia’s economy following the coronavirus shutdown. Gov. Brian Kemp’s office credited the state’s early re-opening with better-than-expected revenue collections from April through June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

On Wednesday, Kemp said new economic development job numbers showed strong growth in August. Despite COVID-19, job creation was 1.5 times higher than in July and August of last year, the state said.

Collections were down $90 million during fiscal 2020, but some experts were predicting a much bigger decline as hundreds of thousands of Georgians were thrown out of work and businesses were shuttered at the start of the pandemic.

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