Millionaire’s tax fuels April revenue haul

April tax collections beat the Healey administration s expectation by more than billion driven by revenue from the surtax on annual income above million and capital gains taxes the Department of Revenue reported Monday Last month s billion in tax revenue was million or greater than what was collected in April and billion or more than the administration s monthly benchmark With just two months left in fiscal DOR reported tax receipts total approximately billion billion or more than actual collections by the same point in fiscal and billion or above the year-to-date benchmark DOR disclosed DOR and Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz both attributed much of the monthly and year-to-date overage to surtax and capital gains collections revenues that have restrictions on their use and are not available to advocacy certain general budgeted spending The revenue overperformance in April is largely driven by Fair Share surtax and capital gains collections categories that do not alleviate persistent pressures on the overall state budget tied to the escalating costs of providing state services Gorzkowicz noted Almost all of April s over-benchmark performance came in the non-withheld income category which officers have declared is a signal that the revenue stems from the income surtax on high earners or capital gains taxes Income tax revenue beat expectations by billion or billion of which came in the non-withheld income category that captures revenues from capital gains taxes and the income surtax An administration official explained that the revenue benchmarks assume billion in surtax revenue this year consistent with the consensus revenue agreement with the Legislature But the Healey administration thinks actual surtax revenues will be about the same as in fiscal year when the state collected billion from the surtax That means there is nearly billion in revenue that the administration thinks will come in but which is not assumed in its formal revenue expectations Similar to last year the dynamic means Massachusetts can likely sock away billion or more in surtax revenue to be spent later for mentoring and transportation while still having to closely monitor tax collections in May and June to ensure a balanced budget when the fiscal year ends For May the administration s benchmark is set at billion which would be million more than was collected in May May revenues are due from DOR by Wednesday June