NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) -- The State of Tennessee continues to collect more tax dollars than it spends.
The Associated Press reports general fund tax collections exceeded expectations by $159 million in April. Through the first nine months of the budget year, tax collections beat budgeted estimates by $579 million.
The state's healthy surpluses were a bone of contention between state lawmakers during their just completed legislative session.
Some lawmakers cited the surplus as a reason to vote against Gov. Bill Haslam’s proposed gas tax increase. Haslam argued the new funding was needed to pay for a $10 billion in backlogged road projects.
The legislature's Republican leadership managed to pass the gas tax increase with the help of Democratic lawmakers.
Tennesseans will see the tax increase at the gas pump beginning the first of July.