By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – The state government's total tax collections went up significantly for the first half of this fiscal year. State revenue officials say the taxes totaled more than three-point-three billion dollars from October through March. That's up six-point-four percent from the amount collected during the same six months last year. Revenue Department research director John Mann says the numbers are encouraging. He says they indicate consumer confidence is increasing, but that's not necessarily good news for both state budgets. Mann says most of the taxes showing growth either flow into the state education budget or are earmarked for specific purposes outside the two state budgets. It has been a different story for taxes that flow into the General Fund budget for non-education agencies. Those collections are down overall.