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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s revenue collections for the month of September exceeded estimates by $84.8 million dollars, according to Gov. Jim Justice.
“This state is killing it. We are doing absolutely fantastic,” Justice said during his Friday coronavirus media briefing at the state Capitol.
Justice said using these numbers can encourage more people to do business in the Mountain State.
“There’s so many bright spots about West Virginia. We need to tell our story of just how great West Virginia is doing,” Justice said.
Consumer sales tax jumped significantly last month. Severance tax collections were up 156%.
Justice briefly scolded those who didn’t support his proposal to tier severance tax rates for coal and natural gas.
“The only thing I would say there is we missed a real opportunity in not tiering our severance tax because I don’t think that this would’ve hurt our companies in any way and it would surely help West Virginia an awful lot,” he said.
Corporate net income tax was up 60.5%, sales tax was up 7.5% and personal net income was up 11.6%.
The governor said he’s beyond pleased with this month’s collections.
“Way to go. Couldn’t be more proud,” he said.