November tax collections continue freefall

It’s been almost two months since the Patrick Administration revised the state tax revenue benchmarks for FY09 downward by $1.1 billion. Based on the latest figures released by the Department of Revenue, it appears that even the revised numbers may be overly optimistic.

Preliminary revenue collections for November totaled $1.257 billion, coming in $41 million short of the revised benchmark and $59 million below November 2007 collections, with sales, meals and motor vehicle taxes all down from last year. Sales taxes in particular continued their freefall, bringing in $313 million but dropping $19 million (or 5.7 percent) compared to last year and finishing $12 million below the revised benchmarks.