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Boston Globe

Amid unsettled times in Washington, Mass. collects $2b more in tax revenue than expected thanks to millionaires tax

'The narrative hasn't really changed from what folks have been talking about over the last few months,' said Doug Howgate, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. 'Starting the fiscal year having met revenue targets puts you in a slightly sounder place than was the case last year at this time.' State officials have treated money from the millionaires tax separately from other types of tax collections because under the state Constitution, the surtax revenue can only be spent on education and transportation. Advertisement But even leaving out capital gains and surtax from the millionaires tax, the state still collected $52 million more than expected. The result sets the state up with a modest Revenue collections for the fiscal year 2025 totaled approximately $43.7 billion, which is $2.9 billion or 7.1 percent more than the state pulled in over the prior fiscal year. Advertisement Healey administration officials said Friday that some major categories such as revenue collected from state income tax payments or sales tax came in at, or above, what the state collected last year. The only category that dipped was revenue brought in from corporate and business taxes, which totaled $355 million, or 7.1 percent, below expectations and $171 million less than in fiscal year 2024, state officials said. Despite the relatively positive report, the state still faces a hazy fiscal future due to the months-long uncertainty emanating from Washington. President Trump has already withheld or cut Just last month, Governor Maura Healey asked lawmakers to Healey also plans to stretch an existing hiring freeze across the executive branch through the fiscal year and pause a 2 percent salary increase that thousands of executive branch managers were slated to receive in January. Howgate, of Mass Taxpayers, said the state's sound fiscal forecast builds in capacity to 'guard against potential decline . . . and the impact of federal policy changes.' Advertisement 'All these unknowns are kind of descending on us at the same time,' he said. Samantha J. Gross can be reached at