Joint Committee on Government and Finance reviews December revenue report; approves reimbursements and interim meeting dates

The Joint Committee on Government and Finance met Jan. 7, 2025, in Charleston and heard a December revenue update from Mark Mucow before adopting a series of routine motions by voice vote, including reimbursements for certain legislative travel and approval of interim meeting dates.

Mark Mucow told the committee that general revenue fund collections for December totaled $575.2 million, about $36.7 million above the estimate and roughly 4% ahead of December last year. He reported year-to-date general revenue collections of about $2.676 billion, which he said was $41.7 million above estimate.

Mucow said December personal income tax withholding was strong, and that personal income tax collections for the month totaled about $227 million. He said year-to-date personal income tax collections were about $1.08 billion, roughly $13.7 million below estimate and about 8% below last year, in part because of comparatively large refunds recorded in the prior year. He noted that business and occupation…