BOSTON – After revenue shortfalls led to state budget cuts last month, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue announced tax revenue collections for January fell short of the benchmark by $263 million, or 6.9% less than expected.

Gov. Maura Healey cut $375 million in spending from the state budget in January, and if the situation doesn’t improve, it’s unsure if those cuts will be enough.

As Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation explains, the Department of Revenue report released Monday matters.

“One of the things that we'll be paying attention to is, are we still ahead of last year's pace?” he said. “And if we're not, it's not that it's time to panic by any means or anything like that. It's really, though, just a kind of continued indication of the fact that we're in this pattern where revenues have now been flat for, you know, close to 12 months.”

Howgate said the latest report is essentially a yardstick to measure progress. He said Healey has already taken good steps to make sure taxpayers aren’t going to see major changes day to day, not yet anyway.

“I don't anticipate a big day to day change in people's lives based on what happens today,” Howgate said. “It's just another data point as you think about how strong the state finances are and how likely they are to improve in the next, say, three to six months.

“And, I think given where we were at last year with our last month with the revenue downgrade, then that may not be the end of that story. We may continue to see some challenges with revenue collections. And if that's the case and they continue, more action will need to be taken. “

Reports are sent out monthly to legislators and will be closely tracked as the governor’s budget for next fiscal year is currently being debated.