(Washington, DC) Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi announced today that the District of Columbia's revised revenue estimate for the FY 2003 local general fund is $3,621,072,000. The estimate is $39.8 million more than the revised revenue estimate released in late February. The increase is due to growth in real property and business tax collections.

"The District's economy, like the national economy, is recovering at a more rapid rate than was anticipated after the Sept. 11 attacks," said Dr. Gandhi. "The District's housing and real estate markets are providing a basic underlying strength to the economy - making up for slower growth in other areas."

Originally, the District estimated that the economic slowdown and the Sept. 11 attacks would cause a decline in total revenue for FY 2002 of approximately $100 million, mostly in sales and individual income taxes. As of March, the actual decline in FY 2002 revenue due to these events is about half of what was originally estimated. Recent tax collection data shows that while income and sales tax collections are still off by $90-100 million, real estate and business tax collections have offset that revenue loss.