Governor Jim Justice announced that West Virginia’s General Revenue collections for March 2022 came in at $488.1 million – an all-time state record for the month of March.
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March 2022 collections were a whopping $150.1 million above estimate and 29.9% ahead of prior year receipts.
Nine months through Fiscal Year 2022, year-to-date collections of $3.966 billion are nearly $740 million above the YTD estimate; breaking the all-time state record for total surplus through the month of March.
“There was a time when I stood up in front of you and said, ‘I’m going to take you on a rocket ship ride.’ And there were lots of people that thought, ‘There’s no way.’ But you had a head coach who believed in this state, and a lot of right buttons were pushed by a lot of great people,” Governor Justice said. “Then, all of a sudden, our engine starts running in West Virginia.
“Now, not only are we on the rocket ship ride, we’re kicking back and really enjoying ourselves,” Governor Justice continued. “We’re continuing to pump out record after record after record. And what I hope is that we can keep these records going so we can rub it in the face of those who didn’t believe in us – people who told a lot of bad jokes about West Virginia.”
March revenue collections set several additional state records in various categories.
Severance tax collections totaled $83.9 million, a new all-time state record for the month of March. Severance tax collections were $52 million above estimate and 78% ahead of prior year receipts. YTD severance tax collections of nearly $500.5 million are also a record. They are $335 million (203%) ahead of prior year receipts and are now $264.4 million above the YTD estimate; yet another all-time record for March.
Personal income tax collections totaled $204.3 million, another new all-time high for the month. Personal income tax collections were nearly 50% ahead of prior year receipts. YTD collections of more than $1.64 billion are now $244.9 million above the YTD estimate. Adjusted YTD collections are now 13.6% ahead of prior year receipts.
Consumer sales tax collections were $18.3 million above estimate and 11% ahead of prior year receipts. YTD collections are now $111.7 million above estimate and 9.5% ahead of prior year receipts.
Corporation net income tax collections were nearly $0.3 million above estimate. YTD corporation net income tax collections are now $101.6 million above estimate and 50% ahead of prior year adjusted receipts.
“Our success is all across the board,” Governor Justice said. “We want to just keep rolling. We have raised the bar so high now, it’s amazing. Do you remember when we brought out leis to celebrate one month of being $65 million above estimate for two months combined? Now, we’re celebrating a surplus of $150 million for one month.
“Of course, we want to make sure and manage the store properly and set ourselves up in West Virginia for decades and decades of goodness to come. We owe our young people that,” Governor Justice continued. “So we don’t want to be frivolous and just throw the money away. But this is great stuff and it’s worth celebrating.” ■
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