CHARLESTON — October tax collections for West Virginia’s general revenue budget for the current fiscal year came in nearly four percentage points below estimates for the month, but year-to-date collections only remain barely one point below expectations.

According to the monthly tax revenue report released Friday by the Senate Finance Committee, October tax collections of $393.6 million came in 3.67% below the $408.6 million tax revenue estimate set by the state Department of Revenue. Revenues for the month came in $15 million less than expected, though October tax revenues came in nearly 1% better than the $390.8 million collected in October 2023.

Year-to-date tax collections for the first four months of fiscal year 2025 that began in July came in at $1.70 billion, which was only .081% below the $1.71 billion revenue estimate, or $13.8 million below estimates.

Fiscal year-to-date collections also underperformed collections by 5.99%, or $108.3 million, compared to the first four months of fiscal year 2024 last year, which came in at $1.81 billion.

All but one of the state’s major tax revenue streams came in below estimates for the month. Personal income tax collections for October of $168.5 million were 8.86% below the $184.9 million estimate. Fiscal year-to-date personal income tax collections of $701.9 million were 4.55% below estimates of $735.4 million.

In 2023, Gov. Jim Justice and the Legislature passed a tax reform package cutting personal income tax rates by 21.25% and put in place personal income tax rebates for motor vehicle tangible personal property taxes and certain other tangible personal property taxes on small businesses.

The 2023 tax reform package also put in place a personal income tax trigger formula for future cuts. After the end of fiscal year 2024, the Department of Revenue determined in August that the state would see a 4% personal income tax cut beginning in January 2025, which will return $92 million to taxpayers when fully implemented.

Justice and the Legislature agreed on an additional 2% personal income tax cut in a special session at the beginning of October, which will also go into effect in January 2025 and return $46 million to taxpayers when fully implemented. Justice held a ceremonial bill signing for the 2% tax cut Thursday, bringing the total amount of tax cuts since Justice took off in 2017 to more than $1 billion.

Despite tax collections staying close, sometimes under, revenue estimates, Justice said in a statement Friday that state revenue officials believe West Virginia is on track to end this fiscal year with more than $80 million in surplus, down from $826 million in surplus for fiscal year 2024 and $1.8 billion in surplus for fiscal year 2023.

“West Virginia’s revenue numbers show exactly what we’ve been working so hard to achieve,” Justice said. “We’re proving that responsible spending and smart tax cuts can go hand-in-hand. We are still on track for another solid surplus that allows Toby and Edith to have more money in their pockets. We’ve been able to cut over a billion dollars in taxes.”

Consumer sales and use tax collections for October of $125.1 million was 1.69% below the $127.2 million revenue estimate. Fiscal year-to-date sales tax collections of $549 million were .07% below the $549.4 million estimate.

Quarterly distributions to counties and municipalities of severance tax monies collected from coal and natural gas production helped contribute to severance tax collections not meeting estimates. October severance tax collections were in the red by $5.7 million when estimates expected $9.8 million in collections. Fiscal year-to-date severance tax collections of $68.5 million were 22% below the $87.8 million revenue estimate.

Only corporate net income tax collections beat expectations for the month and fiscal year-to-date. October corporate net income tax collections of $27.4 million was 121% more than the $12.4 million estimate, providing a $15 million surplus for the month. Fiscal year-to-date corporate net income tax collections of $107.5 million were 11.29% more than the $96.6 million estimate, providing a $10.9 million surplus for the month.