Legislature Sends Tax Cut To Governor’s Desk

Updated on Oct. 9 at 3:15 p.m.

The House of Delegates passed the Senate’s revised bill to cut income tax rates by 2 percent Tuesday after Gov. Jim Justice amended his special session call from a 5 percent income tax cut to a 2 percent income tax cut.

The Senate passed the 2 percent cut Monday, and the House debated the bill 40 minutes.

“Although I had publicly said that I was all in favor of 5 percent obviously my counterpart in the Senate has emphatically said no,” Del. Vernon Criss, R-Wood, said, referencing Sen. Eric Tarr’s, R-Putnam, opposition to the 5 percent cut. “So as we go along through the exercise of legislation, we have gotten a new message from the governor to do a 2 percent cut.”

Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, introduced two amendments: one that would increase the tax cut back to 5 percent and another that would require permanent foster care placement for all children in the state within 30 days after the 2 percent cut was passed. The House rejected both.

“The average working class West Virginian’s maybe going to get like 40 cents a week, not a whole lot for a 2 percent income tax cut,” Pushkin said.

Republicans in the House voiced support for a tax cut to directly return money to West Virginians, compromising with the Senate’s version.

The fiscal note for the bill lists the cost of the tax cut at $46 million upon full implementation. Secretary of Revenue Larry Pack, part of the governor’s office, told the House Finance Committee Sept. 7 that the 2 percent cut could be funded with $19 million from a paid-off bond and $25 million is from cost-saving measures after breaking up the Department of Health and Human Resources.

The Department of Human Services referred WVPB to the Governor’s office when asked for cost-saving details.

**Editor’s Note: This story was updated to include the bill’s fiscal note and correct the total cost of the bill to $46 million and DHS’ response.