SACRAMENTO - Third-quarter tax collections by the state came in nearly as predicted, leaving lawmakers in no better -- or no worse -- position as they work to solve next year's $17 billion budget shortfall, officials said Tuesday.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's finance staff estimated that the state would receive nearly $52 billion by the end of March, and so far, state coffers are short only about $217 million -- barely four-tenths of 1 percent.

Even though much of the governor's attention in recent weeks has been focused on reform of the state's workers' compensation system, he is also working on a revision of his budget proposal that is due out next month.

The governor's 2004-05 spending plan, released in January, calls for spending $99.1 billion next year. But the plan relies on the state collecting at least $21.5 billion more in tax revenue before the end of the fiscal year in June.

Even if the state collects all the tax money the administration is counting on, the task facing Schwarzenegger and the Legislature is a daunting one. Spending by state departments and agencies still remains badly out of balance with tax income, and there remains much debate between Democrats and Republicans over how to bridge the gap.

Voters approved Propositions 57 and 58 last month, which provide the state with $15 billion in money for paying off the state's existing $9 billion deficit. But even with the bond money in hand, the shortfall next year is expected to be at least $17 billion, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office.

Schwarzenegger's January budget plan includes more than $9 billion in service cuts as well as billions of dollars of borrowing and one-time savings. Much of the spending cuts are aimed at public health programs, but he has also proposed more than $2 billion in cuts to education, as well as to almost every other department and agency.

The new tax revenue numbers from the administration update a more pessimistic outlook reported by State Controller Steve Westly last week.

Relying on premature collection numbers, Westly reported that the state's tax revenues had fallen $347 million below the administration's projections for the first three quarters of the fiscal year. But a spokesman for Westly acknowledged Tuesday that the Department of Finance numbers were more current because they include tax money that has been collected but not yet transferred to the controller.