| November tax collections, albeit the smallest month for state revenues of the year, beat expectations by $25 million, notching another positive month for Massachusetts budget managers now $204 million in the black for the year.
The Department of Revenue announced Tuesday that collections of $1.74 billion in November exceeded benchmarks by 1.5 percent. Through the first five months of the fiscal year, tax revenues have grown by $452 million, or 4.8 percent, over the same period last year and have exceeded benchmarks by 2.1 percent.
The relatively good news came the night before the annual consensus revenue hearing where top lawmakers and the Baker administration will present and hear testimony from economic experts as they work to develop a tax projection for fiscal 2019 on which to build the next state budget.
“November’s results were consistent with our expectations for steady, modest growth,” Revenue Commissioner Christopher Harding said in a statement. “The main driver for November revenues exceeding the monthly benchmark was that we processed less in refunds this November compared to last November, which are partly offset by slightly lower than expected corporate & business taxes.”
Harding said collections last November were “low in historical standard due to timing factors.”
Income tax collections of $1 billion beat estimates for the month by $39 million and sales taxes of $524 million were $1 million ahead of projections. Corporate and business taxes of $18 million missed their benchmark by $12 million.
There are no quarterly estimated payments due for individuals and most corporations in November, which is part of the reason the month is one of the smallest for tax collections.
