Gov. Patrick Morrisey suggested tax cuts could be on the table for the legislative session that’s straight ahead.
“As we’re getting closer to the legislative session, I wanted to make clear that one of our top priorities during the session will be tax cuts and tax simplification, and I think that’s important because West Virginians are still feeling the impact of inflation,” Morrisey said during a briefing today.
The legislative session that starts Jan. 14 will kick off with the governor’s traditional State of the State address that evening.
The Legislature and the prior administration cut its personal income taxes significantly in recent years through a series of legislative and trigger-based reductions, resulting in a cumulative decrease of more than 20% since 2023.
Morrisey said the state needs to keep going.
“I think we need to do more, and the people, the businesses here in our state that call West Virginia home, they deserve more immediate tax relief, and that’s what I plan to deliver,” he said.
“My proposal for the upcoming session will provide several additional tax cuts that will help provide relief for taxpayers while maintaining the fiscal responsibility we’ve set as a standard for the first year of my administration.”
The governor said an amount remains undetermined and will require cooperation with the Legislature, “but looking at least a five to 10% — that is my goal.
“But I want to work with them to be able to make sure that we’re executing this the right way. I’ve had conversations with the House and Senate leadership, and I’ve expressed my interest in working closely with them on getting something that passes.”
The governor says his administration believes West Virginia is able to absorb additional tax cuts because state government has kept spending in line. He described confidence because state revenue has run ahead of projections even with the other big tax cuts of recent years.
“We had a good close to 2025, and our fiscal projections are significantly above where we thought they would be. So this is very positive news — I think a direct result of the so much of the hard work that our administration has put in over time,” he said.
Six months into the current fiscal year, the state is ahead roughly $128 million over estimates with total general revenue collections of about $2.74 billion, state Revenue Secretary Eric Nelson said today on MetroNews Talkline.
$128 million equates to about a 5% increase over estimates,” Nelson said, “So we’re pretty pleased about that.”