You keep going down the same road and you end up in the same place.

The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue has released tax collection numbers for July, the first month of the new fiscal year.

Without an approved budget and with last year's budget ending up $3.25 billion in the red, it's hard to figure out where the state stands financially.

Let me just take a wild stab and predict Pennsylvania is on a path to an ever bigger deficit than the one recorded last year.

The news is all bad. The state collected 5 percent less in July 2009 ($1.65 billion) than it did in July 2008 ($1.75 billion) when Gov. Ed Rendell's $28.3 billion red ink budget kicked in. The small monthly deficits at the beginning of the fiscal year turned into a runaway train as the year finished.

(And Rendell actually wants to spend more ($29 billion) for 2009-10 than he did the previous fiscal year. This is why the state does not have an approved budget five weeks into the new fiscal year. Rendell still hasn't come to his senses.)

The Associated Press says the July 2009 revenue total is the 11th straight month in which Pennsylvania's tax collections have fallen short of the same month in the previous year.

Collections from the two biggest sources of revenue, the sales tax and the personal income tax, were both down. Translation for Ed Spendell and the dimwitted Democrats in the House pushing for higher taxes: Pennsylvanians don't have jobs so they can't pay the income tax and they don't have money to spend so they're not paying the sales tax.

From a Revenue Department Press Release:

HARRISBURG -- Secretary of Revenue Stephen H. Stetler today reported that the state collected $1.7 billion in General Fund revenue in July, the first month of the 2009-10 fiscal year.

Sales tax receipts totaled $735.2 million; personal income tax revenue was $639.9 million; and corporation tax revenue was $87.7 million for July.

General Fund revenue figures for July included $63.4 million in inheritance tax and $29.6 million in realty transfer tax. Other General Fund revenue, including the cigarette, malt beverage and liquor taxes, totaled $82.5 million for the month. Non-tax revenue totaled $12.6 million for the month.

In addition to the General Fund collections, the Motor License Fund received $319.8 million for the month.

The Gaming Fund received $59.9 million in unrestricted revenues for July. Gaming Fund receipts include taxes, fees and interest. Of the total for the month, $59.8 million was collected in state taxes for property tax relief. Other gaming-related revenues collected for July included $1.9 million for the Local Share Assessment; $8.8 million for the Economic Development and Tourism Fund; and $21.1 million for the Race Horse Development Fund.