photo by: Kansas Department of Revenue

Kansas Department of Revenue

TOPEKA — The state of Kansas collected $173 million more in taxes during the first quarter of the current fiscal year than it did during the same period last year, an increase of 11.4 percent, the Kansas Department of Revenue said Monday.

Total tax collections during the months of July, August and September totaled just over $1.5 billion, the agency reported. That compares to $1.35 billion collected during the first three months of the last fiscal year.

Individual income taxes grew more than 21 percent over the period, while corporate income tax collections were up 23 percent. Retail sales tax collections were virtually unchanged from last year.

Monday’s report also contained good news for the state’s oil and gas industry, which had been struggling in recent years because of low commodity prices. Those tax collections, known as “severance” taxes, were 40 percent higher than the first quarter of fiscal year 2017, and 57 percent higher than forecasters had expected.

Overall, total tax collections were about $99 million, or 6.2 percent, higher than forecasters had expected.

For the month of September alone, total tax collections were about $81 million, or 13 percent, higher than expected. They were also $93 million, or 15 percent, higher than September 2017.

Individual and corporate income taxes showed the largest percentage of growth in September, while September retail sales taxes were slightly lower than expected, and lower than a year ago.