West Virginia ends fiscal year $413 million surplus

West Virginia finished its fiscal year with about $413 million in surplus revenue, Gov. Jim Justice announced.

The state saw a surplus for a variety of reasons. State revenue expectations were lowered because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led lawmakers to withhold spending on certain projects and federal stimulus spending addressed some of the state’s needs during the pandemic. However, the state also reported growth in corporate net income tax revenue, consumer sales tax revenue, personal income tax revenue and severance tax revenue.

Some of the surplus funds were allocated to projects during two special sessions held last month and some of the funding went into the state’s rainy day fund. All remaining surplus funds will be directed into the rainy day fund.

“Our state is diversified today in many different areas; from medicine to high-tech to tourism and all the different things that are happening all across our state,” Justice said in a statement. “Severance tax being up is another goody, that’s for sure. But it is not the only goody. In fact, it’s far from it. You’ve done really good, West Virginia, and I’m really proud of you.”

Fiscal Year 2021 General Revenue Fund collections reached nearly $4.99 billion, which was an 11% increase from Fiscal Year 2020. Revenue collections were $458 million above the state’s estimates prior to the pandemic.

West Virginia took in more than $2.25 billion from personal income tax collections, which was a 15.7% increase from last year. The state also saw a 10.9% increase in sales tax revenue and corporate net income tax revenue more than doubled. The severance tax revenue increased by 2.7% from last year.

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