(The Center Square) — Massachusetts collected $263 million less in tax revenue than it did this time last year, the state Department of Revenue announced earlier this week.
“January collections decreased in income tax withholding, non-withheld income tax, corporate and business tax, and ‘all other’ tax in comparison to January 2023,” DOR Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder said in a press release on Monday. The lack decrease was “partially offset” by increases in collected sales and use tax.
The announcement comes as part of a recent trend, with January being the seventh straight month the state has come up short. The Center Square reported last month that Massachusetts was cutting $375 million as part of the state’s efforts to attend to a $1 billion shortfall for fiscal year 2024.
Some suggest that the revenue loss results from taxpayers fleeing the state due to high taxes. “Governor Maura Healey is dealing with an economy she helped create,” Paul Craney, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, said in a statement. “It’s safe to say the income surtax is driving wealth and resources out of the state.”
“The poor decision to endorse a ballot question that wrote into the state constitution an 80 percent income tax hike on some high-income earners, small business owners, home sales, and retirees is having a devastating impact,” he continued.
Last year, a Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation report showed that record numbers of Massachusetts residents were departing the state. Between April 1, 2020, and July 1, 2022, 111,000 Massachusetts residents moved out, the most in 30 years. Massachusetts finished second in outbound departures in 2023, behind only California, according to a UHaul study.
