• Finally, the high cost of oil means more local production, and Utah's oil and natural gas severance tax is up 44 percent more than estimated, bringing in $7.4 million extra.

There are some economic warning signs, Macdonald warned.

Non-residential construction is sluggish.

And, of course, the stock market has dropped off a cliff the past several weeks, down overall around 6 percent for the year.

About 10 percent of the state's individual income taxes come through capital gains taxes on investment sales, Macdonald said.

Even so, personal income taxes remain strong. Tax Commission experts guessed that $40 million would come in the seven days before the April 15 income tax filing deadline.

But $60 million came in, Macdonald said.

Through Monday, 871,528 people had filed state income tax returns, he said, a 3.2 percent increase in filings over last year.

And the number of refunds to taxpayers from 2004 actually went down by about 4,000 returns, meaning the state isn't giving back as much as usual, he added.

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com