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CHARLESTON - In his first video appearance since his gallbladder surgery on Monday, Gov. Jim Justice praised West Virginia for ending the fiscal year at midnight Friday with more than $1.8 billion in surplus tax revenue.
"We did simply with all of us pulling the rope together," Justice said in a pre-recorded video message Friday morning. "You deserve so much credit, West Virginia. It's your money and you are the ones who made it happen. You are the engines that made this great state move right straight to the forefront where now everyone recognizes us as the place to come to."
Official tax revenue numbers for the general revenue budget for fiscal year 2023, which ended at midnight Friday, won't likely be available until after this weekend. But according to the Governor's Office, the state ended the fiscal year with approximately $6.5 billion.
The $6.5 billion general revenue number is 10% more than fiscal year 2022 tax revenue collections of $5.9 billion, more than 41% greater than the $4.6 billion general revenue budget approved by Justice and the Legislature, and 1.6% more than the unofficial $6.4 billion estimate set by the Department of Revenue.
Justice said the $6.5 billion general revenue number is the first time the state has brought in more than $6 billion of tax revenue. The resulting revenue is set to exceed $1.8 billion, coming in close to the Department of Revenue's unofficial surplus estimate of $1.764 billion.
"We shattered all kinds of records and everything for surplus beyond belief in West Virginia," Justice said. "It's just mindboggling and hard to believe in lots of ways."
Of that $1.8 billion in excess tax revenue, $1.2 billion is already spoken for. The $4.875 billion general revenue budget approved earlier this year by the Legislature for fiscal year 2024 beginning Saturday includes more than $1.165 billion in one-time funding placed in the surplus section in the back of the budget to be paid out if the state ends the current fiscal year with surplus tax revenue.
Another $231 million will be transferred to the state's Rainy Day Fund. As of May, the Rainy Day Fund has more than $949 million. In Friday's press release, Justice said he would begin working with the Legislature to appropriate the remaining $454 million.
"I'm going to work with the Legislature to take what's left unappropriated and continue to make wise investments in what we know will bring us more goodness, like infrastructure, federal matches, and tourism, because the more we tell the world about West Virginia, the more people will want to live, work, and raise their families here," Justice said.
The Department of Revenue was predicting ending fiscal year 2024 next June with $6.1 billion in tax revenue and $1.2 billion in surplus. It remains to be seen how the 21.25% personal income tax cut, the 100% rebate on vehicle tangible personal property taxes, the 50% rebate on inventory and equipment tangible personal property taxes, and other tax breaks will affect revenue numbers for the new fiscal year.
House Bill 2526, the tax cut bill passed by the Legislature earlier this year, would return as much as $750 million to state taxpayers annually. Justice said West Virginia's economic conditions have brought positive attention to the state.
"We're no longer that state that everyone believed was too backward, absolutely poor and dingy and whatever it may be," Justice said. "All the bad jokes, we're rubbing their noses in it in a lot of ways. I'm really proud of you. Let's just keep it going … We've still got a lot of ways to go and we still want to keep trying to help anybody and everybody we can in our state."
Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party, credited the state's economic success to the policies of President Joe Biden. He accused Justice and Republican lawmakers of hypocrisy.
"Gov. Justice and West Virginia Republicans want to have it both ways," Pushkin said. "Jim Justice and the West Virginia GOP say President Biden is destroying the economy, but then brag about how well the economy is doing under his leadership. It just doesn't make sense."
Pushkin also praised Biden and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., for pushing federal legislation with billions of dollars of funding for West Virginia. The state is receiving $1.2 billion for broadband expansion from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the 2021 bill negotiated by Manchin and U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.
Manchin is up for a third six-year term for U.S. Senate in 2024, though he has not announced his intentions to seek re-election. Justice is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2024. Pushkin attacked Justice for his numerous headline-making business issues over the last several weeks and months.
"Thanks to Senator Manchin, West Virginia is receiving a record amount of federal dollars to grow our economy and create jobs," Pushkin said. "Joe Manchin shows every day that leadership involves more than owning a photogenic bulldog."
Justice's video was his first public appearance since undergoing gallbladder surgery on Monday afternoon. In a late-night press release Monday, the Governor's Office said Justice began experiencing pain June 22. In Friday's video, Justice said he returned to his home in Lewisburg Tuesday following Monday's surgery.
"I have to admit the last few days have been kind of tough," Justice said. "It's all going good, a little sore, and it surely gets your attention."