Center Square – West Virginia will finish the year with $1.8 billion more in tax and fee collections than budgeted, something Gov. Jim Justice called a record for a second straight year.
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But the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy says that is because Justice gamed the system with budget underestimates to make it appear as if the state was doing well financially under his watch.
“Presumably, this tactic has been deployed to manufacture a narrative of economic strength to make the case for Justice’s 2023 income tax cuts,” the center wrote. “But the reality is that state costs aren’t flat, which is why responsible budgeting takes inflation into account.”
