State Tax Collections Fall Behind Estimates

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.