CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The strongest showing of sales tax revenues this fiscal year highlighted the state’s tax collections in November. according to the state Department of Revenue.
Sales tax collections beat estimates for the month by $1.6 million, state Deputy Revenue Secretary Mark Muchow told state lawmakers Monday.
“Sales tax for the first time in a while in November exceeded estimate. Sales tax growth in November was actually around 2.8 percent overall which is an improvement over previous months,” Muchow said.
Personal income tax collections were strong at $3.8 million above estimates while Corporate Net Income Tax collections also came in ahead of the original projection by $1.1 million.
Overall the state missed estimates by $5.8 million in November. It’s behind estimates by $14.1 million after five months of the fiscal year. State Revenue Secretary Dave Hardy said that’s not a bad position to be in. He said collections are better than last year at this time.
“We’re five-twelfths of the way through the fiscal year and year-to-date we’re 4.5 percent ahead (in collections) from last year and that’s good news,” Hardy said.
He told lawmakers Monday there would be no need for mid-year budget cuts.
Although still falling short of estimates, severance tax collections for the budget year are 33 percent above last year’s receipts, Hardy said.
“We had some slower growth in the first few months of the fiscal year, but the data we are seeing makes us think we are going to meet or exceed our future estimates. Natural gas is the industry to keep an eye on at this point,” Hardy said.
Taxes that fell short of estimates in November included Severance (-$3.5 million), B&O (-$3.3 million), Tobacco (-$2.9 million) and Insurance Premium (-$2.6 million).