PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A new report that compares the state's cash collections for the past two fiscal years is providing at least a hint that the state's economy might be improving.
The latest Department of Revenue Cash Collections report shows that collections from the state's three largest revenue sources -- the personal income tax, the sales and use tax and the lottery -- were all up during the fiscal year that ended June 30, compared to the previous year.
Collections from the personal income tax totaled $1.089 billion for fiscal 2013, compared with $1.068 billion for 2012 -- a difference of $20.6 million.
Collections from the sales and use tax totaled $881.5 million for fiscal 2013, compared to $848.1 million for fiscal 2012 -- a difference of nearly $33.4 million.
The report is not the final word on state revenues for the fiscal year that ended June 30, because the state still has to make adjustments for collections came from transactions that took place during a different year.
That means it's too soon to tell if state revenues will meet their projections for the year that just ended.
But Paul Dion, chief of the Office of Revenue Analysis, said it's not likely that the adjustments would be so large as to put the 2013 collections below those of 2012. He also said the numbers suggest that Rhode Island's labor market might be "a bit stronger than people realize."