SPRINGFIELD — Overall revenue to state government grew a modest 2.7 percent last month, and economists believe that will be the short-term norm for the state and its unbalanced budget.

"I think you're probably looking at something in the neighborhood of a 2 or 3 percent growth range from the economic sources," said Jim Muschinske of the Legislature's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. "That's still somewhat below historical averages. I think we're going to be expecting some small, moderate growth. I don't think anyone is under the illusion that you're going to see a big uptick of revenue."

In December, according to COGFA's monthly revenue report, personal income tax revenue grew 65.7 percent, corporate income tax receipts were up 66.7 percent and sales tax revenue increased just 1 percent from December 2010.

The income tax revenue was up primarily because of the 67 percent income tax increase enacted in January 2011.

And the state sales tax numbers aren't really as meager as they appear, Muschinske said, because last December's revenue was inflated by about $36 million because of tax amnesty payments to the state. Take out the effects of tax amnesty, he said, and the state sales tax revenue grew about 5.5 percent last month.

"That's pretty decent growth," Muschinske said.

Through the first half of fiscal year 2012, state revenue is matching expectations.

"Absent the tax increase, there's been very little growth in the income tax, which is not that surprising. We didn't have that much growth built into the projections," he said. "But I do think we'll see a little bit of growth in the second half of the year.

"If you take the large economic sources (the personal income tax, corporate income tax and sales tax), I'd say the personal income tax has underperformed a little bit, but that was made up with an overperformance of the corporate and sales tax. Overall, they're all doing as well as expected," Muschinske said.

"Most of the projections from economists say we're going to see slow but continued growth."

Even with the big increases in revenue from the income tax, overall revenue has been hurt by a huge reduction in federal reimbursements to the state. Last month alone, federal revenue dropped $517 million, or 72.6 percent, from December 2010. The most extreme of the monthly federal revenue cuts is probably behind Illinois, Muschinske said.

Among other state revenue sources, cigarette tax and lottery transfers were flat. But riverboat gaming receipts grew $28 million or 112 percent, primarily because a 10th Illinois casino which was not open last December was operating in Des Plaines this December.