Tag: Mark Muchow

State Officials: 2018 Budget Year to End in Surplus

Gov. Jim Justice and his revenue staff say West Virginia is heading toward a budget surplus as the state nears the end of the 2018 fiscal year.

The governor and his revenue staff announced May’s revenue collections were more than $20 million above estimates. The entire month saw nearly $330 million in total revenue collection.

Several key collections came in above estimates, including personal income tax by $8.5 million, severance tax collections by nearly $4 million, and consumer sales tax by nearly $1 million.

General Revenue Fund collections remained on target in May, and Cumulative State Road Fund collections were $12.5 million above estimates.

Justice says the state is headed toward a budget surplus at the end of the month, and fiscal year 2019 looks promising.

Deputy Secretary Mark Muchow says a big reason for the increase in revenue is an increase in employment across the state of 9400 jobs since this time last year.

W.Va. Officials Say State Faces Deficit of $80 Million

State officials say West Virginia could end the fiscal year $60 million to $80 million in the red.

February revenue collections were about $5.4 million below estimates for the month. That increased the total shortfall for the fiscal year to more than $47 million.

The fiscal year ends July 1.

Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow tells media outlets that revenue collections for the remainder of the fiscal year would have to be at least 9.7 percent higher than last year’s revenue collections. He says that’s unlikely.

W.Va. Tax Collections Up in January

For the first time this fiscal year, state tax collections in West Virginia have exceeded monthly projections.
 
     Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow tells media outlets that despite the surplus of $8.4 million in January, collections through the first seven months of the fiscal year are $73 million less than anticipated.
 
     Collections in January totaled $391.7 million. Muchow says that included $15 million in taxes that were due Dec. 31 and were posted as January revenue.
 
     Personal income tax collections were about $2.2 million ahead of January’s projections, while sales taxes were $2.3 million below expectations.
 
     Overall, yearly collections are down 1.1 percent compared with the same time a year ago.
 

State tax revenue slide continues in October

West Virginia’s tax revenue slide is continuing as October’s collections fell about $8 million below estimates.
 
     Deputy revenue secretary Mark Muchow tells media outlets that collections of personal income, consumer sales and business and occupation taxes were all below estimates.
 
     Personal income and consumer sales taxes are the state’s biggest sources of tax revenue.
 
     Natural gas production boosted severance tax collections above estimates. But Muchow says it wasn’t enough to offset the declines.
 
     October’s tax collections totaled about $313.5 million.
 
     Tax collections in September were about $2 million below estimates.
 

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