Atlanta, Georgia – Georgia entered the fall with another month of higher tax collections, but the numbers beneath the headline showed a mixed picture. Stronger sales and corporate tax revenue helped push the state’s September total higher even as individual income tax collections moved in the opposite direction.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s office reported that Georgia collected about $3.34 billion in net tax revenue during September, up roughly $76.7 million from the same month a year earlier. That represents a 2.3 percent increase from the nearly $3.27 billion collected in September of fiscal year 2026.
The increase also kept the state ahead of last year’s pace through the first three months of the fiscal year. Year-to-date net tax collections reached approximately $8.41 billion, an increase of $240.2 million, or 2.9 percent, from the $8.17 billion collected through September 2025.
Sales taxes provided one of the strongest boosts.
Gross Sales and Use Tax collections climbed to $1.73 billion, increasing $136.8 million, or 8.6 percent, from September 2025. Net Sales and Use Tax revenue increased even faster, rising $98.8 million, or 13.3 percent, from the nearly $741 million collected during the comparable period a year earlier.
Local governments also received considerably more sales tax revenue. Adjusted distributions to local governments totaled $880.4 million, up $100.2 million, or 12.8 percent, from $780.2 million last year. Sales tax refunds, meanwhile, declined by $62.2 million.
Corporate Income Tax collections also strengthened. Georgia collected nearly $37.9 million more from the category than it did a year earlier, a 5.9 percent increase from September 2025’s $642.7 million.
Estimated corporate tax payments jumped $126.6 million, or 32 percent. That gain came despite corporate return payments falling $48.2 million, or 45.3 percent. Corporate tax refunds increased $33.1 million, or 66.7 percent, while other corporate payments, including S-Corporation return payments, declined by a combined $7.4 million.
Individual Income Tax was the notable weak spot.
Collections totaled about $1.42 billion, down $61.3 million, or 4.1 percent, from nearly $1.49 billion a year earlier. Income tax withholding payments fell $62 million, or 5.1 percent, while refunds increased $21.6 million, or 28.1 percent.
There was some strength within the category. Estimated individual income tax payments increased $29 million, or 15.3 percent. Other individual tax categories, including return payments, declined by a combined $6.7 million.
Elsewhere, Motor Fuel Tax collections were nearly unchanged, slipping $0.4 million, or 0.2 percent, from the previous fiscal year’s $203.7 million.
Motor Vehicle Tag and Title Fee collections rose $8.4 million, or 22.1 percent. However, Title Ad Valorem Tax collections fell $8.5 million, or 11.9 percent.
Taken together, September’s figures show Georgia collecting more revenue overall, with higher sales and corporate tax receipts more than offsetting the decline in individual income taxes and smaller drops elsewhere.
