- Massachusetts Department of Revenue
July 15, 1999
Ann Murphy / Jeffrey Busha
(617) 626-2251
Revenue Commissioner Frederick A. Laskey announced today that preliminary revenues for FY99 were $14.280 billion, up $253.3 million or 1.8 percent from FY98 reflecting a robust economy combined with a series of tax cuts.
"The fact that we closed fiscal year 1999 above the benchmark of $14.160 billion is significant and is evidence that the economy in the Commonwealth continues to remain strong. The growth we experienced last fiscal year was on top of one billion dollars in tax cuts which resulted in larger refunds for taxpayers," said Commissioner Laskey.
DOR provides preliminary revenues for FY99 as part of the process of closing the Commonwealth's books. The closing process uses Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Final revenue numbers will be available in September.
Preliminary figures for FY99 show that withholding tax revenue totaled $6.75 billion, an increase of $416.3 million or 6.6 percent over FY98 indicating solid wage growth. However, income tax revenue totaled $8.04 billion, up $4.63 million or only 0.1 percent mainly due to the fact that millions of taxpayers benefited from tax cuts that took the form of increased refunds. Sales and use tax revenue totaled $3.27 billion, an increase of $307.3 million or 10.4 percent. Corporate tax revenue totaled $1.01 billion, down $58.2 million, or 5.5 percent.
Revenue for the month of June totaled $1.547 billion, a decrease of $102.6 million or 6.2 percent below June 1998. Income tax collections were $802.2 million, down $34.5 million or 4.1 percent, due to the increase in personal exemptions. Withholding tax collections totaled $555.4 million, an increase of $12.3 million or 2.3 percent. Sales and use tax collections totaled $294.1 million, up $5.3 million or 1.8 percent. Corporate tax collections were $190.8 million, a decrease of $36.1 million or 15.9 percent.
