Economists at the General Assembly and Gov. Pat McCrory's administration agree for now there will be a small shortfall this fiscal year relative to North Carolina's $21 billion state government budget.
They released a report Tuesday saying they anticipate the gap between actual and expected tax collections to be $271 million.
That's higher than the roughly $200 million gap through the end of December, and off by just over 1 percent. The state can close the gap through reserves and unspent funds, but that could make it harder to fund programs in the new fiscal year beginning July 1.
The consensus report blames continued weak growth in wages, which has meant lower than expected withholdings taken out of paychecks. Lawmakers will still watch carefully the volatile April 15 tax payments.
