Name: West Virginia Gov. Justice outlines plan to eliminate income tax during State of the State Address
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West Virginia Gov. Justice outlines plan to eliminate income tax during State of the State Address

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You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.Gov. Jim Justice laid out a plan to eliminate West Virgina’s personal income tax during his State of the State Address.Gov. Jim Justice delivers his State of the State Address Wednesday evening to members of the West Virginia House of Delegates and Senate.&nbsp;Senate President Craig Blair, R- Berkeley, left, and Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, applaud Gov. Jim Justice during his State of the State Address.Several of Gov. Jim Justice's cabinet secretaries attended Wednesday's State of the State Address virtually, appearing on a monitor behind the governor.&nbsp;Gov. Jim Justice delivers a copy of his State of the State Address after entering the House of Delegates chamber Wednesday.&nbsp;Gov. JusticeGov. Jim Justice laid out a plan to eliminate West Virgina’s personal income tax during his State of the State Address.Gov. Jim Justice delivers his State of the State Address Wednesday evening to members of the West Virginia House of Delegates and Senate.&nbsp;Senate President Craig Blair, R- Berkeley, left, and Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, applaud Gov. Jim Justice during his State of the State Address.Several of Gov. Jim Justice's cabinet secretaries attended Wednesday's State of the State Address virtually, appearing on a monitor behind the governor.&nbsp;Gov. Jim Justice delivers a copy of his State of the State Address after entering the House of Delegates chamber Wednesday.&nbsp;CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WV News) — Gov. Jim Justice outlined his plan to eliminate the state’s personal income tax during his State of the State Address Wednesday evening.In order to replace the $2.1 billion received annually from the personal income tax, Justice said the state should raise its consumer sales tax by 1.5%, impose taxes on the purchase of tobacco products and soda, create a “tiered” system for severance tax collections, impose taxes on some professional services, and impose a wealth tax and make $25 million in budget cuts.His plan would initially see personal income taxes cut in half for most West Virginians, Justice said.“First of all, you take one bite of the elephant at time,” he said. “You cut the income tax on everybody in the state of West Virginia — except the super highest earners, and you cut theirs by a third. But you cut everybody else’s by half right out of the gate.”The state would still be receiving half of its usual personal income tax revenues during this first phase of the plan, Justice said.The other half of the revenues would be made up by increasing the consumer sales tax and imposing other new taxes, Justice said.“I think what we’re going to have to do that’s going to hit the everyday man is we’re going to have to raise sales taxes by 1.5% if we’re going to eliminate our income tax,” he said.“We need to look at putting an additional tax on cigarettes and soda in trying to make us healthier and better, and that could be a source of revenue for us.”A tax on “professional services” should also be created, along with a “wealth tax,” Justice said, describing the latter as “a tax on those who are very, very well-to-do who can pay just a little bit extra.”The state also should make about $25 million in budget cuts, Justice said.“The cuts need to be in my opinion very minuscule,” he said. “You do not need to cut to the bone, but you do need to make some cuts. By minuscule, I mean very minuscule — $25 million of cuts will get you there.”Tiering severance tax collections on oil, gas and coal also will bring in some replacement revenues, Justice said.“It won’t bring in a whole lot of dollars, but it will bring in a few,” he said.He expects that the economic development activity and the influx of new residents that will occur as a result of the elimination of the income tax will make up for the other half of the lost revenues, Justice said.“In the state of West Virginia today, you’re growing at a pace of really, really, really close to $300 million per year. If you think of how many will come into our state, it could blossom to who-knows-where,” he said. “If you have the discipline to really watch the store, the growth, the growth alone will take you there. The growth alone will eliminate the rest of the balance of the income tax.”He plans to support “flat, no growth” budgets for the next three years, Justice said.Justice also called on lawmakers to support the creation of a closing fund of between $30 million and $50 million to help the state provide incentives to finalize economic development deals.He also hopes lawmakers will support the creation of a new rainy-day fund that would be used to cover any revenue shortfalls caused by the elimination of the income tax, Justice said.“A rainy-day fund bucket for the elimination of our income tax or any shortfalls in the elimination of our income tax,” he said.Justice went on to say he hopes to create two new Cabinet-level secretary positions, one for tourism and one for economic development.The West Virginia Office of Tourism and the West Virginia Economic Development Authority are both currently under the umbrella of the state Commerce Department, but his plan would break them out into their own agencies, Justice said.Tourism Commissioner Chelsea Ruby would be elevated to secretary of tourism, while former Senate President Mitch Carmichael would serve as secretary of economic development, Justice said.Following Justice’s address Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, issued a statement praising the governor’s message.“Tonight, the governor made it clear that West Virginia’s time to take bold steps to secure our future is right now,” Blair said. “We have been committed over the last four years to improving our state’s business climate, reforming our education system and promoting all of the benefits our state has to offer. We now must take the next step, and that step is removing our state’s personal income tax.”Senior Staff Writer Charles Young can be reached at 304-626-1447 or×××I know what I'll be doing with extra $. Saving it for my daughter's education, somewhere other than in WV as I'll be taking my family away from this ridiculous state as soon as this allows me to afford it. Thanks for the way out, Jimbo!Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,racist or sexually-oriented language.PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.Don't Threaten. Threats of harming anotherperson will not be tolerated.Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyoneor anything.Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ismthat is degrading to another person.Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link oneach comment to let us know of abusive posts.Share with Us. 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You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.Gov. Jim Justice laid out a plan to eliminate West Virgina’s personal income tax during his State of the State Address.Gov. Jim Justice delivers his State of the State Address Wednesday evening to members of the West Virginia House of Delegates and Senate.&nbsp;Senate President Craig Blair, R- Berkeley, left, and Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, applaud Gov. Jim Justice during his State of the State Address.Several of Gov. Jim Justice's cabinet secretaries attended Wednesday's State of the State Address...

West Virginia Gov. Justice outlines plan to eliminate income tax during State of the State Address

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