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Year-to-date collections exceed $5 billion for first time in state history…with a month left to go
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CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice announced today that, 11 months through Fiscal Year 2022, year-to-date collections of more than $5.225 billion are a record $1.107 billion above the YTD estimate and 16.3% ahead of last year, breaking the all-time state record for total collections through the month of May.
This marks the first time in state history that cumulative collections have ever exceeded $5 billion at any point on the calendar, with another month still remaining in this fiscal year.
“I hate to sound like a broken record…but we have ANOTHER broken record!” Gov. Justice said. “Celebrating records never gets old, especially when it comes to our revenue collections.”
West Virginia’s General Revenue collections for May 2022 came in at $113.8 million over estimate.
“When I walked in the door, facing a $500 million budget deficit, there were a lot of naysayers out there who never believed we’d even be able to get the state positive, let alone to the point where we’re breaking record after record, month after month,” Gov. Justice added. “To tell you the truth, I love rubbing those people’s noses in it and I hope every West Virginian does too.
“A lot of people have worked really hard to make these record-breaking announcements possible, and we’ve done it for you. Every West Virginian should be walking around with an incredible sense of pride today. What we’re pulling off right now has never been done before. We are truly on the rocket ship ride that I promised from the beginning.”
May saw additional state records broken for personal income tax collections.
Personal income tax collections totaled $181.7 million. Monthly collections exceeded estimates by roughly $35.5 million. YTD collections of roughly $2.270 billion were a record $430.5 million above estimate and 16.2% ahead of prior year.
Severance tax collections totaled a record $92.7 million. Collections were $62.4 million above estimate and 295.5% ahead of last year. YTD general revenue fund severance tax collections were $358.2 million above estimate and $430.0 million ahead of last year. YTD general revenue fund severance tax collections were 197.3% ahead of last year.
Corporation net income tax collections of $13.8 million were $5.3 million above estimate and 46.2% ahead of last year. YTD CNIT was $159.3 million above estimate and 46.9% ahead of prior year adjusted receipts.
Consumer sales tax receipts of $150.7 million were $24.7 million above estimate. YTD collections were $150.6 million above estimate and 7.4% ahead of prior year.
Insurance premium tax collections were $1.3 million above estimate and 208.9% ahead of prior year. YTD collections of $134.9 million were $9.0 million above estimate and 15.0% above prior year.
Click here to read monthly revenue and cash flow reports from the West Virginia State Budget Office
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Under Gov. Justice’s leadership, West Virginia continues to enjoy an unprecedented era of success and prosperity.
After inheriting a $500 million budget deficit, Gov. Justice has led the state to a string of consistent budget surpluses by using his lifelong experience as a businessman to make West Virginia a more business-friendly state and by standing behind the energy industry. A $253 million surplus in April 2022 alone marked the biggest single-month revenue surplus in state history.
At the same time, West Virginia has achieved record-low unemployment rates. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 3.6% for April 2022, breaking the all-time record for the lowest unemployment rate recorded in West Virginia history for the 7th consecutive month.
West Virginia is finally competing on the world stage and recruiting world-class companies to our state as shown in several major economic development announcements this year. Nucor Corporation announced that they selected Mason County as the location for a state-of-the-art sheet steel mill. This record investment will exceed $2.7 billion, making it the largest in West Virginia history, as well as the largest single investment Nucor has ever made. GreenPower Motor Company announced an agreement with the state to manufacture zero-emission, all-electric school buses in South Charleston, bringing hundreds of new jobs and millions of dollars in economic impact to West Virginia. Owens & Minor, a Fortune 500 company that provides medical supplies, is going to expand on a deal they previously had with WVU Medicine and create over 125 jobs at a healthcare products preparedness and supply center in Morgantown. Omnis Building Technologies will build a $40 million, 150,000-square-foot facility in Bluefield to manufacture housing materials that will revolutionize the future of residential construction, creating 150-300 jobs in the process. Klöckner Pentaplast has announced a multimillion-dollar expansion of their West Virginia facility. PepsiCo is building a pair of new distribution facilities this year, representing a combined $32.5 million investment, while providing 185 jobs in West Virginia. Veloxint, a manufacturer of nanocrystalline metal alloys, is moving to Touchstone Research Laboratory Ltd. in Triadelphia and is expected to create another 200-300 new jobs over the next four years.
Gov. Justice also announced that West Virginia reached the 2nd-highest export growth rate of any state in the nation for 2021.
Meanwhile, the Governor’s Roads To Prosperity program is the state’s largest-ever investment in road maintenance and improvement; after 50 years of neglecting its roads, the state has committed more than $2 billion dollars to fixing them. Teachers and state employees have received their two largest pay raises ever, and a third pay raise has been proposed. The state’s Rainy Day Fund now exceeds $1 billion – another record – and its public pension funds are better-funded than they have been in decades. Thanks to Gov. Justice, Veterans now live in West Virginia tax-free and senior citizens do not face state taxes on social security. The Governor has also led West Virginia through a once-in-a-century pandemic, protecting the state’s most vulnerable citizens.
People are more excited than ever to be in West Virginia. From April 2010 to July 2019, more than 43,000 people moved out of the state. However, from 2020 through 2021, net migration is up in West Virginia for the first time in decades, with over 2,000 people moving into the state, making West Virginia one of the top states in the entire nation that people are moving into on a percentage basis.
Increased investments in the state’s tourism efforts have visitation and intrigue in West Virginia through the roof. West Virginia was recently named a top-10 travel region in the world to visit by Lonely Planet; the only state to earn this prestigious distinction and the state was also recently selected as one of the Best Places to Go by Condé Nast Traveler. West Virginia was also recently named as one of CBS’s top destinations for family vacations in 2022.
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