Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, said while April's revenue numbers are "jarring" they’re "not necessarily surprising given the recognition that capital gains and other collection types were likely to decline sharply from last year’s levels."

He said the revenue drop "doesn’t change the underlying need for sensible tax relief."

"Drop-offs in non-withheld income is something we forecasted as a FY 2023 revenue risk in January, the question was always one of timing and how these effects would be split between fiscal years 2023 and 2024," he said.

Still, Howgate cautioned that the economic outlook is uncertain amid the fallout from bank closures, the raising of the debt ceiling and interest rates that "could have a much larger and less predictable impact on the state’s fiscal picture."