West Virginia April tax revenues down following income tax filing deadline

West Virginia is sitting on $637.5 million in surplus tax revenue, with officials expecting the state to end the current fiscal year at the end of June with approximately $800 million. A special session of the Legislature could be called in May or June to make changes to the budget for Fiscal Year 2025, which begins July 1.

For April — coinciding with state and federal income tax filing deadlines — West Virginia’s total tax revenue of $634.7 million was 22% more than the $520.1 million revenue estimate, providing $114.5 million in surplus tax revenue for the month.

But April collections were down 23.2% from the previous fiscal year, when tax collections were $825.9 million.

April personal income tax collections of $230.2 million were 7.6% less than the $249 million revenue estimate, coming in below projections. However, fiscal year-to-date personal income tax collections of $1.9 billion are 9.7% more than the $1.7 billion estimate, providing the state with $165.1 million in surplus.

The Legislature passed House Bill 2526 last year, which included a 21.25% across-the-board cut in personal income tax rates.

The bill included triggers that could cause further personal income tax cuts beginning in calendar year 2025. However, tax revenue — excluding severance tax collections — would have to increase above the rate of inflation in order to trigger a cut, with state revenue officials predicting between a 1% and 2% income tax cut.

While April personal income tax collections were down, corporate net income tax collections for the month remained strong. April corporate net income tax collections of $133.7 million were 217.6% more than the $42.1 million estimate, resulting in $91.6 million in surplus for the month.

Fiscal year-to-date corporate net income tax collections of $392.7 million are 131.4% more than the $169.7 million estimate, providing the state with $223 million in surplus revenue.

Consumer sales tax collections were also down in April, but are staying close to revenue estimates for the last 10 months.

April sales tax collections of $127.4 million were down 2.4% from the $130.5 million estimate. But fiscal year-to-date sales tax collections of $1.44 billion are 1.5% more than the $1.42 billion estimate, providing the state a $20.5 million surplus.

The state severance tax on coal, oil, and natural gas continues to perform well.

April severance tax collections of $50.5 million was nearly 100% more than the $23.5 million revenue estimate, for a $25.2 million surplus. Fiscal year-to-date severance tax collections of $298 million are 20.4% more than the $247.6 million revenue estimate, providing a $50.4 million surplus.

When it meets in special session sometime over the next two months, the Legislature plans to restore some reduced budget line items and surplus appropriations requests that were cut from the spending bill passed in March. The state was holding back $465 million in case the U.S. Department of Education did not grant the a waiver for COVID-19 spending requirements, which was granted last month.

Senate Bill 200, the budget bill, set the general revenue budget for the next fiscal year at $4.996 billion and made several other cuts, including to Medicaid and the intellectual and developmental disability waiver program. Once the fiscal year ends, the state will have approximately $500 million in surplus tax revenue to appropriate, as well as an additional $300 million left unappropriated in the FY25 budget.