State General Fund revenues increased 7.6% in December

Total state General Fund revenues rose 7.6% in December with help from growth in payroll withholding, sales and use taxes and recordation tax collections, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Monday.

“This continued strong revenue performance gives us confidence that we can achieve the forward-looking agenda I have laid out, while also putting money into our cash reserves,” Northam said in a statement.

Collections of payroll withholding taxes increased 9.2% during December and collections of sales and use taxes (reflecting November sales) rose 5.1%.

“January nonwithholding payments will also give us a better indication of taxpayer behavior for calendar 2019 tax returns,” Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne said in a statement.

Collections of wills, suits, deeds and contracts rose by nearly $8 million from December 2018 to December 2019, with $40.4 million last month.

Corporate income tax collections occur in December for most corporations, and refunds from extension returns are processed. As a result, collections of corporate income taxes increased 19.2% on a year-to-date basis — 17% greater than the forecast of 2.2% growth.

Virginia is ahead in other annual estimates. In December, fiscal year-to-date payroll withholding collections grew 5.8% —1.1% ahead of the annual estimate. Collections of sales and use taxes increased 8.1%, ahead of its 6% annual estimate.

The greatest amount of growth happened with recordation tax collections, which rose 29%, more than double its percentage forecast.