After April Drop, Mid-May Tax Collections Up

Adding to the confusing economic news, state tax collections over the first half of May were up nearly 12 percent over the same period in May 2022.

The $1.34 billion collected by mid-month was $141 million more than mid-month 2022 collections, Revenue Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder wrote in a May 18 letter.

"The month-to-date increases in withholding and non-withholding income tax, sales tax, and corporate and business tax were partially offset by a decrease in 'all other' tax," Snyder wrote.

Department of Revenue officials caution against using mid-month revenues to assess trends or project future revenues.

Massachusetts collected $4.782 billion in taxes in April, a drop of $2.163 billion or 31 percent from the same month a year earlier and $1.435 billion or 23 percent below the most recent monthly benchmark projection. Through mid-April, total state tax collections of $1.597 billion were running $848 million or nearly 35 percent below collections during the same period in April 2022.

April tax collections left the state more than $700 million below what budget chiefs originally forecast Massachusetts would have hauled in by that point. Through March, revenues had been running roughly $870 million above the original benchmark pace. - Michael P. Norton/SHNS