FAIRLEA, W.Va. — Governor Patrick Morrisey held a pep rally among supporters at the state fairgrounds in Greenbrier County in support of his proposed tax cuts.
Speaking to a crowd at the West Virginia Building, the Governor said cutting the state income tax is an important priority for him and his administration. But he also acknowledged even though he would have liked a 10 percent cut this year, it appeared the budget will only afford a five percent cut for the 2026-27 budget.
“I proposed a ten percent across the board income tax cut, the Senate gave that to me, but the House had zero. I think the final budget looks to leave it at five. What I want to say to folks is thank you for the five and we’re going to keep coming back to get to the ten,” Morrisey said.
The Governor explained the tax cut is extremely important because neighboring states already have a lower top end tax rate. He explained Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have top end tax rates under four percent, but West Virginia’s rate just under five percent. Therefore the Governor wanted to see the rate lowered. But, Morrisey also told the gathering neighboring Virginia is ripe for the picking.
“Talk about an opportunity, they just elected people who are far left in Virginia. We have a chance to go there and eat their lunch money, take it, and bring it back into our state. While we’re looking to lower our income taxes and lower the burdens placed on business, Virginia is looking to increase them,” he said.
The Legislature sent Morrisey the budget last week, leaving him a deadline of Thursday to finish up his review. The early approval was to have a chance for lawmakers to push back on any line-item vetoes the Governor might want to issue on their spending plan. Morrisey told the crowd in Greenbrier County he actually liked what lawmakers did in the area of infrastructure.
“I put $100 Million in new money for transportation and infrastructure, then the budget they sent me they added about $25 Million. After looking at that and the condition of our roads, I’m going to keep that to fix more potholes in our state,” he said.