State revenue collections ahead of estimates again in February
CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice announced today that revenue collections were $1.7 million above estimates in February, the third consecutive month that total collections exceeded projections.
This now reflects that the year-to-date shortfall has been reduced by 62.4% since late August.
“As we continue to be fiscally prudent and monitor our numbers every day, I am happy to report that West Virginia’s financial health remains strong as we head into the final four months of Fiscal Year 2020,” Gov. Justice said. “The monthly surplus was due to stronger than expected collections for the Consumer Sales Tax, Corporation Net Income and Insurance Premium Tax.
“This is great, great news for our state, and we are very encouraged. It surely looks like now that our decision to refrain from making budget cuts was the right move,” Gov. Justice added.
The following are highlights of February collections:
- Consumer sales tax collection growth accelerated to 5.7% during February with monthly collections exceeding estimate by $5.2 million and cumulative collections above estimate by nearly $3.6 million.
- Personal income withholding tax collection growth was a strong 11% in February with year-to-date collections now growing at a rate of 1.1%. However, total personal income tax collections still missed estimate in February by nearly $7.9 million due to a significant acceleration in tax refund processing activities as compared with last year. Total February income tax refund payments were more than $26 million higher this year than last year.
- Corporation net income tax collections exceeded February estimate by nearly $5.3 million and cumulative collections were $38 million above estimate and 10.9% ahead of last year.
- Insurance premium tax collections were $3.5 million above estimate in February. Year-to-date collections were $1.8 million above estimate and 4.6% ahead of last year.
- Severance tax collections fell short of estimate by $7.4 million in February. Year-to-date collections of $182.6 million were $46 million below estimate and 35% below prior year receipts.
