Maryland income and sales tax collections are falling short of expectations. During a fiscal briefing yesterday, analysts predicted that the State could face a $200 million budget gap by the end of the current fiscal year. Here is an except from a story in today’s Washington Post:

Legislative analysts reported that collections of income and sales taxes, the two largest sources of general fund revenue, have fallen short of expectations, a trend that shows no signs of changing soon.

“You probably need to start thinking about what you’re going to do … if revenues don’t meet their targets,” said Warren Descheneaux, the General Assembly’s top budget analyst. At a Senate committee briefing, Descheneaux said lawmakers could be looking at “a hole of perhaps $200 million” by the end of fiscal 2009, which started July 1.

Deshenaux’s briefing included this slide (pdf) that projects how the November 4 slots referendum will impact the budget. If the referendum fails, the state will be looking at an additional gap of nearly $500 million.