Associated Press Published

State Tax Collections Fall Behind Estimates

Director of the State Budget Office Mike McKown , Secretary of revenue Bob Kiss and Deputy Secretary Mark Muchow in the House Chambers.

State officials say January’s tax collections provided no signs of an economic turn for West Virginia.

The state collected $374.3 million in revenue last month. Those figures were down $9.8 million from January 2015 and missed estimates by $11.5 million.

Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow says the numbers continue to look bad in February and March.

The state’s year-to-date tax collection of $2.29 billion is also running $169.5 million below estimates.

Two areas that exceeded estimates in January were sales and personal income tax collections, as the state collected $195.3 million in personal income and $132.6 million in sales taxes.

Muchow went on to say that the lack of economic growth is a result of the lack of employment and wage growth in West Virginia.