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Last week, state officials revealed a little bad news in the tax revenue report for October. Severance tax collections just aren't what they used to be. In fact, year-to-date severance tax collections are 60.5% below revenue estimates for the fiscal year of $88.5 million.
For October, the severance tax revenue report showed a deficit of $37.5 million.
To be fair, Gov. Jim Justice's office later clarified that the state actually collected $55.7 million in severance taxes, but there was a record return of local oil and gas severance receipts of $74.5 million, resulting in the $37.5 million deficit.
"Our severance tax dollars are down ... but at the end of the day, our state is still percolating and doing dadgum good. That's the good news," Justice said. "We minded the store the right way. We didn't run out and spend all of our money and do a bunch of frivolous projects. We absolutely didn't build in case that took us right off the rails. We did it right."
Certainly, it was wise to be prudent with state funding, if those controlling the purse strings really were bracing for such an impact. But Justice got even more honest when he said something that must have been difficult -- particularly for a man with his family's interests -- to utter as a West Virginia politician.
According to a report by WV News, Justice later talked about the degree to which the prices for metallurgical coal, thermal coal and natural gas have "fallen like a rock," but was encouraged that the Mountain State is not as economically dependent on those natural resources as it once was.
"Our state has many, many things going on today that absolutely are perpetuating the engine in the state beyond just our natural resources," Justice said, according to WV News.
How much truer might that be if more elected officials in the state acknowledged our economy's desperate need to diversify and expand as it moves away from what got us here? Perhaps Justice's folksy dose of reality will do the trick. Whatever it takes, many more in Charleston must face the numbers -- the reality of those traditional pillars of our economy -- and turn to FINALLY face our future.