Revenue Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

State Revenue Falls Short In February, But Remains Ahead For Year

West Virginia’s state revenue for February 2024 fell $30.62 million below official estimates — nearly 10 percent lower than anticipated. Despite this, the state revenue remains above projections for the current fiscal year as a whole.

West Virginia’s state revenue for February 2024 fell $30.62 million below official estimates — nearly 10 percent lower than anticipated.

The state revenue is totaled from taxes, fees and service charges. That figure hit just $283.4 million in February.

Despite the shortfall, the state’s revenue remains ahead of projections for fiscal year 2024 as a whole.

Since the start of the 2024 fiscal year in July, the state has collected more than $3.581 billion, which is nearly 14 percent higher than initial projections for the fiscal year.

In a press release Monday, Gov. Jim Justice still expressed optimism for the months ahead.

“While February’s revenue came in slightly below our expectations, it’s important to remember this is due to the timing of certain personal income tax credits,” he said. “Looking ahead, I remain very confident in West Virginia’s long-term financial health.”

Predicting West Virginia’s Budget This West Virginia Morning

Sean O’Leary, senior policy analyst for the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, said the state could find itself with a shortfall instead of a surplus in the coming years. He spoke with energy and environment reporter Curtis Tate about the volatility of the severance tax.

On this West Virginia Morning, higher coal and natural gas prices, alongside higher demand for both fossil fuels, generated a severance tax windfall that fattened the state’s budget surplus last year. But the prices for both fossil fuels have declined in recent months.

How the state determines its revenue estimates itself is also a subject of debate. West Virginia’s annual budget is based on estimates that come from the governor’s office, with the current surplus coming from taxes collected above those estimates. Government reporter Randy Yohe has more on how those estimated amounts garner differing points of view of how they should be determined.

Also, officials say they have “positive momentum” toward restructuring the Department of Health and Human Resources, an offer from West Virginia American Water to purchase the city of Milton’s water system was rejected by city lawmakers Tuesday, the latest national assessment of academic ability shows a continued decline in student achievement nationwide and seven first responders received the state’s first round of Medal of Valor awards during a ceremony Wednesday afternoon.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Concord University, and Shepherd University.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning

Gov. Justice Announces Nearly $7 Million Revenue Surplus For December

Gov. Jim Justice announced December revenue collections in West Virginia totaled nearly $430 million dollars — slightly more than what was collected last year.

In a Thursday press release, the governor said revenue collections for December came in $6.9 million above estimates, which was 1.2 percent above prior year receipts. Justice said the “state is still in great financial health.”

The release highlighted areas such as personal income tax, which saw $175 million — nearly 3 percent ahead of prior year receipts.

Consumer sales tax collections were just below $127 million, which was more than $1 million below estimates, but ahead by nearly 3 percent of prior year receipts.

December severance tax collections totaled nearly $43 million. Monthly collections were more than $0.1 million above estimate and 5.1 percent below prior year receipts.

Business & Occupancy tax collections totaled nearly $17.6 million in December. Monthly collections were up 121 percent from the prior year receipts largely due to a carryover of deposits due at the end of November to early December.

Corporation net income tax collections totaled $30.4 million in December. Monthly collections were nearly $2.6 million below estimate.

According to the governor’s release, the month of December also marked the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2020. The release also states that the first two months of the 2020 fiscal year were “disappointing” in terms of revenue collections. However, the last four months were $16.4 million above estimates.

Coal sales have also dipped because of both a global economic slowdown with lower steel demand, and stiffer domestic competition from natural gas in the electric market, according to the release.

Gov. Justice Says W.Va. Has Hit Historic Moment in Revenue Numbers

Gov. Jim Justice and officials from the state Department of Revenue say West Virginia has hit a historic moment in general revenue collections.

In a press conference Wednesday, Justice announced West Virginia’s general revenue collections for fiscal year 2019 has generated more than $450 million so far, with a projection for that to hit $500 million by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

Justice compared that with the state’s general revenue growth between 2007 and 2017, which yielded only $314 million during that 10-year period – a less than 1 percent growth rate.

This year, the state has seen an 11.5 percent growth rate, which officials say is the highest level in the state’s history.

Revenue Secretary Dave Hardy explained that puts West Virginia among the top in the country.

“West Virginia’s growth at the end of April was 11.5 percent, which made us the second largest growth this year in the whole United States of America,” he said.

Hardy said Oklahoma beat West Virginia in growth rate this year.

West Virginia Posts $53M Revenue Surplus

Gov. Jim Justice says West Virginia ended April with a more than $53 million revenue surplus.

The Republican governor announced the figure Thursday, May 2. He says revenues have been above estimates for 13 of the past 15 months.

More than $604 million total came into the state’s general revenue fund, reflecting income tax payments that were due in mid-April. The year-to-day collection amount is about $3.9 billion, which is nearly a quarter of a billion dollars above the governor’s office estimate.

Justice says “these are big-time numbers and while they’re spectacular beyond belief, we can do even more for all of us.”

Justice Says November State Revenue Far Above Estimates

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice says state revenue collections have surpassed tax estimates for eight consecutive months.

Justice announced Tuesday, Dec. 5, that collections in November were $18.8 million above estimates. That pushes year-to-date collections to $141 million above estimates and 13.2 percent ahead of year-ago receipts.

Justice calls it “spectacular news” and says West Virginia “has a vibrant economy that is growing and getting better every day.”

He says year-to-date severance tax collections are $51.5 million ahead of last year, consumer sales tax collections are $65.5 million ahead and personal income tax collections are $82.5 million ahead.