By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
The Office of State Budget Director is reporting that April’s General Fund receipts grew 15.2 percent with collections of $2,013.1 million, $265.5 million above April 2025 and marked the first time monthly receipts topped the $2 billion mark.
Receipts have now grown 1.7 percent for the first 10 months of FY26, which ends June 30. Most of the monthly increase was concentrated in the largest three accounts, as the sales and use, the major business and individual income taxes combined to bring in $223.0 million more than last April. For nine of the past 10 fiscal years, April has been the highest month of collections each year except during 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The official revenue estimate calls for a decline of 1.3 percent for the current fiscal year. That means receipts can decline 16.2 percent over the last two months of the fiscal year and still meet the estimate.
“April’s total General Fund revenues marked the first time monthly receipts eclipsed $2 billion.” said State Budget Director John Hicks. “April is consistently the highest month of each fiscal year.
“Both the corporation and individual income tax have filing deadlines for prior-year returns on April 15, and the first quarterly estimated payment on current-year income taxes are due that same day. April 2026 was especially pronounced for individual income tax net returns, which posted a $119.9 million increase compared to April 2025. Sales and use tax collections also grew 4.8 percent, resulting in the combination of strong growth in the major accounts to push General Fund revenues over the $2.0 billion mark.”
Road Fund receipts for April totaled $170.4 million, a 3.3 percent decrease compared to April 2025 levels. The year-to-date decline now stands at 0.8 percent. The official Road Fund revenue estimate call for revenues to decrease 1.0 percent for the fiscal year. Based on year-to-date tax collections, revenues can decrease 2.0 percent for the remainder of the year and still meet the estimate.
Among the Road Fund accounts, motor fuel revenue fell 1.0 percent in April. Motor vehicle usage tax collections declined 6.4 percent, while license and privilege receipts were up 0.4 percent.