CHARLESTON, S.C. — As West Virginia completes the first half of the fiscal year 2022, the state continues to set tax revenue records and maintains a sizable surplus.
According to the Governor’s Office and Senate Finance Committee figures, December tax receipts were $506.8 million, 32.6 percent higher than the Department of Revenue’s projection of $382.4 million for the month and 32.5 percent higher than last December.
The increase raises December’s tax revenue surplus to $124.4 million, representing one of the best December revenue growth rates in over 40 years.
“We actually have the state’s economic engine humming in a level that it hasn’t in a long, long time,” Justice said in a statement Monday afternoon. “Month after month, our revenue collections set record after record.” It’s simply wonderful. West Virginians should be extremely pleased with what we’ve accomplished, and I genuinely believe we’re just getting started. There will be more and more goodness in the future.”
The first six months of the fiscal year 2022, which began in July, came to a close in December. Year-to-date tax collection was $2.5 billion, 18.7 percent higher than the $2.1 billion revenue expectation, resulting in a $395.9 million surplus heading into the last six months of the fiscal year, which ends in June.
In December, the corporate net income tax and the coal and natural gas severance tax led the way in terms of surplus tax revenue. Corporate net income tax collections were $79.1 million in December, 95.9 percent more than the $28 million forecasts, resulting in a $51 million month-to-date tax surplus and a $94.7 million year-to-date tax surplus.
Coal and natural gas severance tax receipts for December were $62.6 million, 94.3 percent greater than the estimated $32.2 million, resulting in a $30.4 million surplus for the month and a $116.8 million surplus for the first half of the fiscal year. Year-to-date severance tax collections are 85 percent higher than expected, owing to rising commodity prices such as coal.
Personal income tax and consumer sales and use tax both have month-to-month surpluses. Personal income tax receipts for December were $181.8 million, 17.3 percent higher than the $155 million expectation, resulting in a $26.8 million month-to-date surplus and a $117.4 million year-to-date surplus. Consumer sales and use tax receipts for the month were $154 million, 15% more than the $133.9 million expectation, resulting in a $20.1 million surplus for the month and a $65.4 million year-to-date surplus.
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