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CHARLESTON -- After months of positive tax collections, August now makes the third month in a row and the second month of the new fiscal year that tax collections came in below estimates.
According to preliminary data from the State Auditor's Office's WVCheckbook.com, West Virginia saw tax collections to the general revenue fund for the month of August come in at $321.8 million -- 9 percent below estimates for the month.
Revenue came in $31.2 million less than estimated in August, the second month of the new fiscal year 2020 that started July 1.
August revenue also came in 9 percent below the same time period last year, coming in $30.5 million less than August 2018.
The biggest drop was in severance tax revenue for coal and natural gas. Severance tax collections came in at $29 million, $11.8 million less than what was estimated -- a 29 percent drop.
When compared to August 2018, severance tax collections dropped 42 percent from the previous year.
Personal income tax collections came in 7 percent below estimates at $135.9 million, which was an $11 million drop in collections. Personal income tax collections came in 2 percent -- $3.2 million -- below last year's collections.
Tobacco tax collections came in 28 percent below estimates at $13.5 million -- $5.2 million below estimates. When compared to August 2018, tobacco tax collections came in 26 percent below the previous year -- a $4.7 million drop.
The corporate net income tax came in 46 percent above the August estimate at $2.2 million, or 18 percent more than last August. The consumer sales tax came in 5 percent above estimates at $6.5 million, while business and occupation tax collections came in at $9.9 million, also 5 percent above estimates.
This makes August the third month in a row for lower than expected revenue collections. July revenue collections came in at $354.7 million, which came in above projections only after the state borrowed $70 million from the Rainy Day Fund to cover payroll. This is done annually and is usually repaid in September. The loan put the general revenue fund $37 million above estimates. June 2019, the end of fiscal year 2019, came in at $448 million, 2 percent below updated revenue estimates.
The three months of below-estimate revenue numbers follow a string of months bringing in record surpluses. The state saw $511 million in general revenue growth in fiscal year 2019, breaking records. Collections for the year came in at $4.756 billion, a 12 percent increase over fiscal year 2018.
(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)