Generally strong tax collections in December helped keep Pennsylvania's state budget in the black halfway through the budget year.

The Revenue Department said Wednesday that tax payments for the six months ending in December totaled $12.2 billion or 1.4 percent above projections. December collections alone were running nearly 5 percent above estimates.

Collections of income tax totaled $4.8 billion, about 1 percent higher than projections for the six-month period. But the other major state levy -- the sales tax -- lagged projections by $125 million or nearly 3 percent.

The department says corporate tax collections totaled $244 million during the first half of the fiscal year -- about 20 percent above estimates.