Officials from the West Virginia Department of Revenue briefed lawmakers Monday morning during a meeting of the Joint Committee on Finance.
Dave Hardy, cabinet secretary for the Department of Revenue, informed members that tax collections for the general revenue fund came in at $552.5 million, far higher than the $407 million estimate from the Department of Revenue, resulting in over $145 million in surplus tax revenue for the month.
That figure brings year-to-date tax collections for the first six months of fiscal year 2023 to $3.1 billion, nearly 38 percent percent higher than the $2.2 billion revenue estimate, giving the state more than $833 million in surplus tax revenue with six months remaining in the fiscal year.
State tax officials have calculated West Virginia could end the current fiscal year in June with approximately $1.8 billion in surplus revenue.
According to Hardy, state revenue growth for December 2022 was up 9 percent compared to December 2021. Year-to-date revenue growth is up over 20 percent compared to this point last year, with roughly 92 percent of that coming from the state’s personal income tax, the consumer sales and use tax, the corporate net income tax, and the severance tax on natural gas, coal and oil.
Much of that growth is attributed to higher natural gas prices in the last year, leading to higher severance tax collections.
