West Virginia misses October tax target

West Virginia state revenue fell short of October projections by $7,700,683. General revenue collections for the month reached $380,374,317, coming in below the estimated $388,075,000.

Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson attributed the dip primarily to corporate net income tax. He noted that this category was down more than $17 million compared to estimates for the month alone. Year-to-date figures for corporate tax were $7 million below expectations, while collections were $20 million lower than the same period last year.

Nelson cited the "Big Beautiful Bill" and recent tax adjustments as key factors affecting corporate earnings. The state issued large refunds totaling more than $18 million in October. These payouts exceeded the strength of new collections, resulting in the negative variance.

Personal income tax and consumer sales tax performed better than targets during the month. Severance tax also beat its projection, a notable result given that October typically records the lowest estimates due to annual local resource distributions. Other categories, including tobacco products tax, insurance tax, and interest income, remained close to their goals despite market volatility.

Despite the monthly miss, cumulative fiscal year-to-date collections stand at $1.79 billion. This total exceeds expectations by more than 3 percent. Nelson described the collections as steady for both the month and the year-to-date period.