Maryland's economy isn't looking good. That's according to Comptroller Peter Franchot, who recently sent a letter to the Governor, the President of the State House and Speaker Michael Busch, stating that May's general fund revenue collections of $1,006.0 million increased 9.2% over last year's $921.5 million. "Well, we saw an increase in the income tax, but there was a pretty slow growth in what we call the withholding, and in the sales tax. Both of those are performing very much below average," said Franchot. "It's not a surprise, especially to those in Western Maryland, that the economy is weak and Marylanders need to be cautious. In Maryland we've ranked number one, or near number one in job losses, in the private sector, in the last couple of months, and we just have to be careful here, because these numbers indicate that even people that have jobs are getting paid less than what they were paid before," continued Franchot.

General fund personal income tax collections increased 18.1% in May and are now up 9.5% for the year. Withholding represents the largest source of collections in May and was up 8.2%, though year to date growth remains weak relative to employment growth, at 3.8%.

Gross receipts from the corporate income tax finished down 9.6% for the month, though net receipts finished up 37.1% as refunds were down by more than half.

Sales tax collections increased 8.4% for the month and are up 10.8% for the fiscal year, though law changes are responsible for the majority of that growth.

The lottery posted another strong month of sales growth, up 5.2%, and revenues increased 9.2% as payout ratios finished the month in the State's favor (relative to last year).