Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that total revenue collections in August for the Commonwealth’s general fund grew by 13.0 percent year-over-year unadjusted. Due to August’s additional deposit day which included payroll withholding taxes remitted by many of Virginia’s large employers, these totals exceeded forecasts. Adjusted for the additional day, revenues increased approximately 5.4 percent year-over-year.

For the month, payroll withholding increased by 19.8 percent (8.2 percent adjusted for the extra deposit day). Wage growth, the additional deposit day, and a strong labor market, drove growth in payroll withholding. There were 142,000 more Virginians employed in July 2022 than there were in July 2021, an increase of 3.5 percent year-over-year. Virginia, however, has yet to recover more than 113,000 jobs that were lost during the pandemic (now at 97.4 percent of pre-pandemic levels) while our key competitor states have all exceeded pre-pandemic employment levels.

There’s more to this in the current issue of the Times Virginian newspaper. Support local journalism by purchasing the issue at a local newsstand or subscribing at www.timesvirginian.com/subscriber_services to receive the print edition or view the full article in the e-edition version.