Governor Jim Justice announced that West Virginia’s General Revenue collections for July 2022 of $381.1 million were $92.4 million above estimates and 24.6% ahead of prior year receipts.
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“I know it sounds like a broken record at this point, but now that we have this state’s economic engine going in the right direction, we have a lot of good news to report,” Governor Justice said.
Coming off a $1.308 billion surplus in Fiscal Year 2022 – the greatest year of revenue collections in state history – West Virginia kicked off Fiscal Year 2023 by setting another all-time record in July, as total severance tax collections for all funds were a state record $90.7 million in July, an increase of nearly 187% over last year.
“What we did this last year was unbelievable – beyond anybody’s wildest dreams. But we’re not slowing down. We’re going to keep the ball rolling this year,” Governor Justice continued.
Severance Tax collections totaled $54.6 million versus $3.4 million in July of last year, a $51.2 million increase. Collections exceeded estimates by $51.6 million.
Personal Income Tax collections totaled $161.2 million. Collections exceeded estimates by nearly $14.3 million and were 13.7% ahead of prior July receipts.
Corporation Net Income Tax collections of $14.4 million were $10.4 million above estimate and 30.2% ahead of prior July receipts.
Consumer Sales Tax collections of nearly $96.3 million were $10.4 million above estimate and 7.2% ahead of prior July receipts.
Insurance Premium Tax collections exceeded the July estimate by nearly $7.5 million.
During the historic Fiscal Year 2022, West Virginia’s cumulative revenue collections finished at $1.308 billion over estimate – shattering the all-time record for biggest single-year revenue surplus in state history.
At the same time, West Virginia has achieved record-low unemployment rates.
Governor Justice also announced that West Virginia reached the 2nd-highest export growth rate of any state in the nation for 2021. ■