HYANNIS – The Massachusetts Department of Revenue recently announced that preliminary revenue collection for October 2021 totaled almost $2.5 billion, a substantial increase from recent years.
According to DOR Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder, the $2.445 billion total is $356 million or 17% higher than actual collection in October 2020, and $197 million or 8.7% more than benchmark.
Collections for the fiscal year-to-date totaled about $11.197 billion, a number 1.858 billion or 19.9% more than collections in the same period during the 2021 fiscal year, and $723 million or 6.9% more than the year-to-date benchmark.
“October 2021 revenue collections increased in all major tax types in comparison to October 2020 collections, including withholding, non-withholding, sales and use tax, corporate and business tax, and ‘all other tax’,” said Snyder.
According to the DOR, some of the gains may have resulted from lessened COVID restrictions in recent months.
“The increase in withholding is likely related to improvements in labor market conditions while the increase in non-withholding tax collections is due to an increase in income tax return payments. The sales and use tax reflects, in part, continued strength in retail sales and the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. The increase in “all other tax” is primarily attributable to estate tax, a category that tends to fluctuate,” said Snyder.
October is usually among the lower months in revenue collection with an average of about 6.5% of annual revenue.
Despite the recent rise, the DOR has advised that results should not be taken as indicative for the rest of the fiscal year.
By, Matthew Tomlinson, CapeCod.com NewsCenter