By Steven Allen Adams, Parkersburg News and Sentinel
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — 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. …
