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Total surplus through March reaches unprecedented $740 million
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CHARLESTON, WV – Gov. Jim Justice announced today that West Virginia’s General Revenue collections for March 2022 came in at $488.1 million – an all-time state record for the month of March.
March 2022 collections were a whopping $150.1 million above estimate and 29.9% ahead of prior year receipts.
Nine months through Fiscal Year 2022, year-to-date collections of $3.966 billion are nearly $740 million above the YTD estimate; breaking the all-time state record for total surplus through the month of March.
“There was a time when I stood up in front of you and said, ‘I’m going to take you on a rocket ship ride.’ And there were lots of people that thought, ‘There’s no way.’ But you had a head coach who believed in this state, and a lot of right buttons were pushed by a lot of great people,” Gov. Justice said. “Then, all of a sudden, our engine starts running in West Virginia.
“Now, not only are we on the rocket ship ride, we’re kicking back and really enjoying ourselves,” Gov. Justice continued. “We’re continuing to pump out record after record after record. And what I hope is that we can keep these records going so we can rub it in the face of those who didn’t believe in us – people who told a lot of bad jokes about West Virginia.”
March revenue collections set several additional state records in various categories.
Severance tax collections totaled $83.9 million, a new all-time state record for the month of March. Severance tax collections were $52 million above estimate and 78% ahead of prior year receipts. YTD severance tax collections of nearly $500.5 million are also a record. They are $335 million (203%) ahead of prior year receipts and are now $264.4 million above the YTD estimate; yet another all-time record for March.
Personal income tax collections totaled $204.3 million, another new all-time high for the month. Personal income tax collections were nearly 50% ahead of prior year receipts. YTD collections of more than $1.64 billion are now $244.9 million above the YTD estimate. Adjusted YTD collections are now 13.6% ahead of prior year receipts.
Consumer sales tax collections were $18.3 million above estimate and 11% ahead of prior year receipts. YTD collections are now $111.7 million above estimate and 9.5% ahead of prior year receipts.
Corporation net income tax collections were nearly $0.3 million above estimate. YTD corporation net income tax collections are now $101.6 million above estimate and 50% ahead of prior year adjusted receipts.
“Our success is all across the board,” Gov. Justice said. “We want to just keep rolling. We have raised the bar so high now, it’s amazing. Do you remember when we brought out leis to celebrate one month of being $65 million above estimate for two months combined? Now, we’re celebrating a surplus of $150 million for one month.
“Of course, we want to make sure and manage the store properly and set ourselves up in West Virginia for decades and decades of goodness to come. We owe our young people that,” Gov. Justice continued. “So we don’t want to be frivolous and just throw the money away. But this is great stuff and it’s worth celebrating.”
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.
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 our state, making West Virginia one of the top states in the entire nation that people are moving into on a percentage basis.
West Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 3.9% for February 2022; breaking the all-time record for the lowest unemployment rate recorded in state history for the 5th consecutive month.
West Virginia is finally competing on the world stage and recruiting world-class companies to our state as shown in three recent major announcements. 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. Additionally, PepsiCo Beverages and Frito-Lay are investing a combined $32.5 million to build a pair of new, state-of-the-art warehouse and distribution facilities in West Virginia by the end of 2022, bringing dozens of additional new jobs to the state.
Gov. Justice also recently announced that West Virginia reached the 2nd-highest export growth rate of any state in the nation for 2021.
Additionally, 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. Additionally, 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.
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