Bad news on the money front for Pennsylvania. Tax collections are still lagging and continue to fall below estimates set at the beginning of this fiscal year. So far this year, , collections are down two percent -- or about $217 million less than the estimated, according to a revenue update from the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center. The report tracks revenue through the end of November. The two laggards are the personal income tax, which was 2.9 percent below estimates last month, and the state sales tax, which was (gulp) eight percent below estimates in November. Since these taxes account for two-thirds of state revenue slight dips in either can move the needle down a lot. "After previous recessions, tax collections took up to two years to recover to pre-recession levels," the Center noted. "Due to the severity of this recession, the recovery seem likely to take longer."
