Mass. tax collections exceed expectations by $48m in June

Increase reflects sounder economy

July 20, 2011|By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff

Tax collections in Massachusetts totalled $2.142 billion last month, an increase of $106 million, or 5.2 percent, from a year ago and $48 million above a benchmark used to assemble the state budget.

Meanwhile, a preliminary estimate of total revenue for fiscal 2011, which ended June 30, was $20.507 billion, the Department of Revenue said yesterday. That amounts to an increase of $1.963 billion, or 10.6 percent, from fiscal 2010 collections and was $723 million above the benchmark.

Taken together, both numbers showed a recovering economy, which helped to lessen the blow of cuts as the Legislature developed a 2012 state budget that passed earlier this month.

“The FY11 performance drew on an underlying sound economy that generated year-to-year increases in withholding, sales, and corporate taxes, as well as an infusion of revenue from income tax on investment income,’’ Revenue Commissioner Navjeet Bal said. “The increase of nearly $2 billion in collections reflects a Massachusetts economy that grew noticeably stronger over the past 12 months.’’

Jay Gonzalez, secretary of administration and finance, said: “Some of the surplus FY11 tax revenues have already been budgeted to cover certain FY11 and FY12 expenditures… . Because a large portion of the surplus tax revenues is from higher-than-expected capital gains and other investment returns that might not be recurring, a significant portion of the surplus should be deposited in the rainy day fund …’’

Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @globeglen.