“That’s our bread and butter right now,” Secretary of Finance Richard D. “Ric” Brown said Thursday.

Brown also sees economic strength in collection of corporate income taxes, a relatively small portion of general fund revenues that grew at a whopping rate of almost 21 percent, an increase of $37.5 million for the month. In the first quarter, corporate income tax grew by almost 28 percent, or $55 million.

“It’s a reflection of two things — their profitability, corporate profit is up — and we’re not giving out the refunds,” he said.

The other hopeful sign was an increase in sales tax collections of 5 percent in September, reflecting August sales as summer neared end and students prepared for school. For the quarter, sales tax collections were up $17.3 million, or 2.7 percent, just under the annual forecast of 2.8 percent.

“If we had not had the refunds (in August), sales tax would be above estimate right now,” Brown said.

On the flip side, recordation taxes on wills, suits, deeds and contracts were down 7.8 percent for the month and 2.3 percent for the quarter, or about $2.5 million, but those tax collections amount to just 2 percent of general fund revenues.