W.Va. Gov. Justice unveils personal income tax cut proposal during State of the State address

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP & WSAZ) - West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has unveiled his most ambitious personal income tax proposal yet: a 50% reduction during the next three years.

The Republican governor called the plan a “West Virginia tsunami” during his State of the State address on Wednesday night.

“It will take us three years to pull it off but absolutely it is aggressive pathway that will absolutely put unbelievable money right back into all of our pockets,” Justice said.

The tax cut would be incremental over the course of three years: 30% the first year, and then an additional 10% each year after that, Justice said.

However, not everyone was sure that this kind of tax cut is feasible including Senate President Craig Blair.

“I’m pretty confident we can’t do the 50% and do the rebate and do the lab and do the all the other hundred of millions of dollars of spending that he had there,” he said.

There are others like Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw who support the tax cut but want to make sure it’s done correctly.

“I’ll be for it, the thing we have to make sure we do is structure it correctly,” he said. “So it’s less about the magnitude and more about the structure.”

He is also proposing eliminating the car tax, a 5% raise for all state employees, a $1,500 bonus for some retirees and putting $100 million into the Public Employees Insurance Agency.

Justice said his proposed budget will again be “relatively flat” this year.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.