Governor Jim Justice announced that West Virginia’s General Revenue collections for April 2022 came in at $253 million over estimate, the all-time state record surplus for any single month in West Virginia history.
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“This is one of the most momentous economic announcements in the history of our state,” Governor Justice said. “West Virginia is approaching its 159th birthday – that’s over 1,900 months in state history – and we’ve never, ever had a single-month surplus this high.
“It’s beyond amazing. It’s breathtaking just how good this is,” Governor Justice continued. “The rocket ship ride is reaching speeds even the most optimistic of us maybe never even dreamed of. Over the past few months, we’ve set so many all-time state records between revenue, jobs, and more, it would be easy to lose track. But this one is worth us taking a step back to admire.”
April 2022 collections of $791.5 million were a whopping 46.6% ahead of prior year receipts.
Ten months through Fiscal Year 2022, year-to-date collections of more than $4.758 billion are $993 million above the YTD estimate; breaking the all-time state record for total surplus through the month of April.
YTD collections are 18.9% ahead of where they were last April.
April saw additional state records broken for personal income tax collections.
Personal income tax collections totaled a record $448.5 million, 86.1% above last April. Monthly collections exceeded estimates by roughly $150 million. YTD collections of roughly $2.089 billion were a record $394.9 million above estimate and 14.2% ahead of prior year.
Severance tax collections totaled $54.8 million. Collections were $29.1 million above estimate and 88.4% ahead of last year. YTD general revenue fund severance tax collections were $295.8 million above estimate and $360.7 million ahead of last year. YTD general revenue fund severance tax collections were 185.5% ahead of last year.
Corporation net income tax collections of $89.4 million were $52.4 million above estimate and 41.2% ahead of last year. YTD CNIT was $154 million above estimate and 46.9% ahead of prior year adjusted receipts.
Consumer sales tax receipts of $122.7 million were $14.2 million above estimate. YTD collections were $125.9 million above estimate and 8.3% ahead of prior year.
Insurance premium tax collections were $4.5 million above estimate and 13.3% ahead of prior year. YTD collections of $133.3 million were $7.7 million above estimate and 14.1% above prior year.
Governor Justice also recently announced that West Virginia reached the 2nd-highest export growth rate of any state in the nation for 2021.
Meanwhile, the Governor’s Roads To Prosperity program is the state’s largest-ever investment in road maintenance and improvement; after 50 years of neglecting its roads, the state has committed more than $2 billion dollars to fixing them.
Teachers and state employees have received their two largest pay raises ever, and a third pay raise has been proposed. The state’s Rainy Day Fund now exceeds $1 billion – another record – and its public pension funds are better-funded than they have been in decades ■
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that AgriAmerica Fruit Products has completed the revitalization and upgrade of a 69,000-square-foot grape juice processing facility located at 200 Water Street in the Village of Fredonia.