CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s desire to further cut the state income tax in the upcoming legislative session is begin met with caution by state lawmakers.
“If we can show us a way that the math works I’m excited to see it but the math has to work,” Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, said Tuesday on WCHS Radio’s 580 Live with Dave Allen.
Takubo and others helped author a tax cut package a few years ago that has sliced the personal income tax by more the 20 percent. That law requires any further cuts to be based on revenue triggers.
“When we did that we put triggers in place with the goal of eventually getting our tax burden to zero and as our economy grows those triggers would jump in there,” Takubo said.
Morrisey applauded the work that has already taken place but he said it can’t stop there.
“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.
Morrisey said another 5 to 10 percent reduction would be good.
Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, called the proposal fiscally irresponsible in a social media post.
“So the Governor wants another personal income tax cut (on top of the recent 27% cut) even though we didn’t meet the benchmark triggers for it to cut itself further, plus he’s forcing all state agencies to cut their flat-for-years budgets more. This is fiscally irresponsible,” Young said.
She furthered her comments during an appearance on 580 Live Tuesday.
“Our revenues are not up from before the pandemic so those tax cuts aren’t coming in–they didn’t come in this year–I don’t know how we’re going to afford another tax cut,” Young said.
Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, was Senate Finance Committee chairman when the tax cut plan became law in 2023. He said Tuesday he’s looking forward to hearing the governor’s plan but also wants to exercise caution.
“I want to cut taxes too and we are cutting taxes,” Tarr said Tuesday on MetroNews “Talkline.” “There is a system that’s is there to reduce these taxes safely and effectively to zero point over time.”
Tarr said there are other ways to reduce taxes including using surplus funds or going back to voters and asking them to approve the elimination of personal income taxes but he said not following plan in place for personal income tax reduction comes with a risk.
“I don’t want to make to where we can’t afford the business of the state that we were charged to do by the constitution that we all operate under because we left politics get too far ahead of practicality,” Tarr said.
The 60-day regular legislative session begins a week from Wednesday.