Massachusetts Tax Collections Below Benchmarks

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Massachusetts tax collections in October were $48 million below the same month a year ago, and missed official benchmarks for the fourth consecutive month in this fiscal year. 

State Revenue Commissioner Amy Pitter said Monday that Massachusetts appears to be seeing a slowdown in the pace of recovery from the recession.

The state collected slightly above $1.4 billion in taxes last month, down 3.3 percent from October 2011.

October collections were $162 million below benchmarks for the month, and collections through the first four months of the fiscal year that started on July 1 are $256 million below benchmark.

Pitter said higher-than-anticipated income and corporate tax refunds contributed to the weak October performance.

Sales taxes were $13 million higher than the same month a year ago.

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