State's net revenue up 4.8 percent in fiscal 2012 | News

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia's state government ended the fiscal year of 2012 with $16.1 billion in net revenues, a 4.8 percent increase compared to fiscal year 2011.

Republican Gov. Nathan Deal said in a statement Friday that "positive year-over-year growth continued for the eighth consecutive quarter" as net revenues reached $4.3 billion for the fourth quarter compared to $4.1 billion last year.

Those collections are viewed as a rough measure of economic health. The government collects more tax money as people get jobs, earn better pay and make purchases.

Net revenues in June totaled $1.54 billion, a 2.6 percent increase compared to June 2011.

Individual income tax collections dropped 0.2 percent from June 2011 to $780.75 million last month, but corporate income tax collections rose 38.7 percent through the end of fiscal 2012.