California’s General Fund tax receipts beat expectations in May, State Controller John Chiang announced today. Most of the unexpected dollars came from the sales and use tax, which beat budget estimates for the month by $305 million (+9.0%).

May General Fund revenues were nearly $747 million higher than in May 2010 (+11.3%). Year-to-date General Fund revenues are about $2.2 billion (+1.0%) above budget estimates and $5.6 billion (+7.5%) over last year at this time.

California ended last year with a $9.9 billion deficit, and has spent $4.9 billion more than it has received this year so far, for a total combined deficit of $14.9 billion (rounding accounts for the slight difference).

June is an important month for revenues because quarterly payments are due, so policy-makers will eagerly await the June receipt and disbursement numbers, which the Controller will release around this time next month. As shown in the chart below, two of the other quarter-ending months, September and December, saw significantly higher-than-expected revenues. The County Voice, as you have come to expect, will report those numbers upon their release.

The numbers are available here and the summary analysis here. Click on the chart below to for a more detailed view.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="575" caption="General Fund Receipts by Month - Actual v. Budget Estimate"][/caption]