Commonwealth posts 6.6 percent revenue in August

Click Here to Recommend Story

Virginia's general fund revenue collections continue to rise.

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Friday that commonwealth revenues rose 6.6 percent in August, a month typically not significant for collections.

Revenues on a year-to-date basis climbed 2.7 percent through August, almost reaching the forecast of 2.9 percent, according to the release. Despite the revenue growth, net individual income tax fell 1.5 percent. The governor's office cites timing issues with withholding collections for causing the drop.

"Following our third-straight budget surplus, Virginia continues to demonstrate why it is among the best states in the nation in which to do business and live the American Dream," McDonnell stated in a release. "While today's economic indicators are mixed, illustrating our need to continue to make conservative, sound fiscal decisions, they do demonstrate that by keeping taxes low and putting in place policies that help the private sector, we can help get our economy back on track."

In the release, McDonnell expressed fear that federal sequestration cuts, which would include defense spending reductions, would harm Virginia's labor force and economy.

"We still confront much uncertainty on the federal level, especially in terms of the future of our national defense budget," McDonnell stated. "In addition, we continue to contend with federal policies that are detrimental to private-sector job creation and, unfortunately, are making any recovery more difficult."

Republican campaigns, including those of former governor George Allen and presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have attacked the potential sequestration cuts as threats to Virginia jobs.