Deputy Legislative Budget Assistant Chris Shea addresses the House Ways and Means committee over an expected $99 million revenue surplus as of April 2018.
Deputy Legislative Budget Assistant Chris Shea addresses the House Ways and Means committee over an expected $99 million revenue surplus as of April 2018. Credit: Ethan DeWitt / Monitor staff

Concord — New Hampshire is expecting nearly $99 million more in tax revenue than previously planned in fiscal year 2018, according to an estimate from the office of the Legislative Budget Assistant.

Lawmakers are planning to spend almost all of it this session.

At a presentation before the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday, Deputy Legislative Budget Assistant Chris Shea said that as of Monday, the state should receive a significantly higher sum than had been budgeted, much of it driven by windfalls from business taxes in recent months.

“Right now, you’re about $99 million ahead of plan through April, give or take a million or two,” he said. The excess likely is due in part to a response by businesses to a new federal tax overhaul that passed in December, Shea added. The new law may have driven additional revenues by incentivizing companies to divert overseas money back into the country, Shea said, a process known as repatriation.

In New Hampshire, the surge has been sudden. Nearly half of the surplus, $45.9 million, came from the month of April alone, according to the office — the latest filing month.

That month, the state’s business profits tax is expected to bring in $99.8 million — $27.3 million more than had been anticipated. The business enterprise tax is set to run $13.8 million surplus for that month, while a settlement from a 1998 lawsuit with tobacco companies brought in an extra $10.9 million.

The $99 million projection accounts for both general fund and education trust fund revenue; the Legislative Budget Assistant did not separate the two, Shea said.

A more detailed breakdown is expected from the Department of Revenue Administration on Wednesday, Shea added.

But whatever the final figures, the money may not last long. A series of spending bills that left the Senate Finance committee on Monday would eat away at nearly all of it if they pass.

Members of that committee approved amendments that would add $20 million toward fixing red-listed bridges and $10 million to the Rainy Day Fund.

And lawmakers face an additional $13.5 million appropriation to cover a new, tentative contract agreement between the state and its four public employee unions.

The state also is eyeing a $10 million appropriation for school safety initiatives approved by the Senate last week and a $38 million designation to cover payments to hospitals after a federal court ruling in March.

Nearly all the money the state is expected to receive would be taken up in present legislation, Shea said.

“And it’s not over yet,” quipped Rep. Norman Major, R-Plaistow, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.