The Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee met to receive an update on the January Revenue Forecast from Secretary of Finance Stephen E. Cummings. Secretary Cummings provided a brief overview of the current economic outlook including updates on the employment rate, inflation, and international events that may impact the overall health of the Commonwealth's economy.
Secretary Cummings shared his concern with employment numbers that show the Commonwealth is lagging in job creation including data that reflects out migration of employment to North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. He further expressed concerns with job creation in the Commonwealth producing low wage jobs in comparison to other neighboring states which the secretary says data shows a higher proportion of high wage job growth.
The secretary reported a revised revenue forecast that estimates the Commonwealth will collect $1.25 billion more in the current fiscal year, on top of the additional $3.3 billion added to the original forecast from last December.
Additional highlights in the report include:
Individual Income Tax Refunds
- Not a significant month.
- Through January, TAX has issued $380.5 million in individual refunds compared with $508.6 million in the same period last year. o Of the $508.6 million issued last year, approximately $110 million was due to refunds received for processing in July versus June as numerous taxpayers waited until the federal due date of July 15 to file their returns.
Net Individual Income Tax
- Through the first seven months of the fiscal year, collections of net individual income tax increased 12.7 percent from the same period last year, ahead of the annual estimate of 3.6 percent growth.
- Adjusting for the returns processed in July last year that would have been completed in May and June, year-to-date growth would be higher.
