News  January Revenues Total $1.94 Billion

February 1, 2001
Tim Connolly
(617) 626-2369

Nicole St. Peter
(617) 626-4058

Revenue Commissioner Frederick A. Laskey today announced that revenue collections for the month of January totaled $1.94 billion, up $254 million or 15.1 percent from January 2000. Year-to-date revenue collections now stand at $9.495 billion, an increase of $764 million or 8.8 percent from last year. Collections for FY2001 are $266 million above the midpoint of the recently revised benchmark estimate range. As part of the FY2002 budget proposal released last month the FY2001 tax revenue estimate was raised by $158 million, to $16.232 billion.

"Just as we did not panic when revenues were less than robust in November and December, we see no reason to celebrate now based on these numbers,'' said Laskey. "One month does not make a trend. We will continue to watch revenues closely for indications of where the Massachusetts economy is headed."

Income tax collections for January totaled $1.414 billion, an increase of $187 million or 15.2 percent. Withholding tax collections totaled $763 million, up $80 million or 11.7 percent. Sales and use tax collections were $390 million, up $52 million or 15.4 percent. Some of the increase in sales tax receipts can be explained by substantial sales tax payments received in the first week of January that were due in December.

Year-to-date income tax collections total $5.753 billion, an increase of $584 million or 11.3 percent. Income withholding collections are $4.672 billion, up $424 million or 10 percent. Total sales and use tax collections are $2.236 billion, up $148 million or 7.1 percent. Corporate collections total $375 million, down $40 million or 9.6 percent.

• Monthly Revenue Report (PDF) (through January 31, 2001)
  Monthly revenue, fiscal year-to-date revenue and actual tax collections.