CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A big year for revenue collections in West Virginia had its biggest month in April when a couple of records were set.
Gov. Jim Justice and state Revenue Secretary Dave Hardy touted the numbers in a Monday announcement.
“From my standpoint this is a day of real celebration and real happiness and real pride because I knew we could do it. I’ve known it all along,” Justice said.
The state collected nearly $836 million in taxes last month which beat the estimate by $319 million, representing the largest monthly surplus collection number in the state’s history.
Hardy said the record collection was fueled by the collection of personal income taxes for the month that were $192.7 million above estimates, also a one-month record.
“These numbers aren’t just good they’re great,” Hardy said.
April is always a big month for the state because it’s when taxes are due from the previous year.
Severance tax collections exceeded estimates in April by $17.5 million. The consumer sales tax brought in $127 million in April which was $12.8 million ahead of estimates.
MORE see revenue collection numbers here
Hardy said with two months remaining in the fiscal year, a significant revenue surplus collection is likely come June 30.
“We think we’re going to finish this fiscal year at least with a $1.7 billion surplus and possibly more,” Hardy said.
It’s currently $1.55 billion through 10 months of the budget year.
The state is beginning to see the impact of the 21% cut in personal income taxes approved by state lawmakers and signed into law by the governor earlier this year. Hardy said that will send the personal income tax collection number down but the money residents save may mean an increase in consumer sales tax collections.
“We all have things that we defer, big ticket items, like cars or appliances and when people see more money in their paycheck or pay less estimated taxes or both, they tend to feed that money back into the economy and then the multiplier effect occurs,” Hardy said.
Hardy said he hears the criticism by some who say the state’s revenue estimates are very low on purpose to create larger surplus numbers.
“You can debate the estimate, whether the estimate was accurate or not accurate or too conservative, but the percentage growth numbers don’t ever lie,” Hardy said. “Our percentage growth number even ahead of last April was a 4.4% growth number.”
Justice said having strong finances for most of his time in office has strengthened what his administration has been able to accomplish.
“If the economics are right everything else gets done,” Justice said.