The District’s jobless rate improved in March ever so slightly over February’s 9.9 percent, but even as the unemployment rate shows meager signs of improvement, the District’s coffers are taking a big hit.
Real property: $425.3 million, down 12.9 percent
Sales and use: $485.3 million, up 1.3 percent
Income: $669.9 million, down 9.6 percent
As compared to first six months
of fiscal 2008
Cash reports released by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer show real property, income and sales, and other taxes down dramatically in March compared with a year ago.
Real property collections, for example, were $410.1 million in March, compared with $453.2 million in March 2008, for a 9.5 percent decline — pushing the yearly decline to 12.9 percent. Sales taxes fell from $72.9 million in March 2008 to $65.8 million last month, for a 9.8 percent fall. Estate taxes collapsed by 72.2 percent. The overall picture: Total tax collections are down $213 million through the first six months of fiscal 2009 compared with those same six months last year, for a 10.4 percent decline.
D.C. leaders knew the pain was coming. Chief financial officer Natwar Gandhi in February projected an “economic tsunami” — the District faces an $800 million budget shortfall in 2010, $967 million in 2011 and $1.1 billion in 2012.
Fitzroy Lee, D.C.’s director of revenue estimation, said Friday’s cash report was “for the most part meeting what we expected” with a few qualifications.
For example, because of delayed billings and assessment appeals, the District’s tax office had only collected 55 percent of real property returns as of March 31, Lee said. Sales taxes are about 2 percent below expectations, he said, but the District’s spring tourist season didn’t ramp up until late in the month. And income tax collections are likely to turn around as more returns come in.
The March jobless rate, at 9.8 percent, showed the tiniest of turnarounds. The figure is 3.6 percent higher than the rate in March 2008 but a 10th of a percent better than February 2009.
The District labor force has fallen by 6,700 in the past year, as the number of employed residents decreased by 16,900 and the number of unemployed residents jumped by 10,300. That said, the District has actually gained 4,800 jobs in the past year — they’re just not going to D.C. residents.
