Lawmakers on the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee were told this week that actual tax collections are close to the state’s revenue estimates for the fiscal year, five months into it. November tax collections were nearly 5% above revenue estimates and tax collections for July through November added up to more than $5 million in surplus tax collections. But fiscal year-to-date tax collections were 5.1% below tax collections for the same five-month period the previous year. Deputy revenue secretary Mark Muchow told the committee that the economy is strong despite a step back in revenue collections.