A deal for the most significant tax cut in West Virginia history has been made, according to an announcement by Governor Jim Justice.
The governor said that the deal took "weeks of negotiations with all parties" to reach a deal with the state's House and Senate.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Justice wrote, "I am extremely happy that after weeks of negotiations with all parties, we’ve been able to reach a deal with the House and Senate that will be the largest tax cut in West Virginia history."
"This deal returns over $750 million to hardworking West Virginians through a major cut to our personal income tax, rebate of the car tax, a 50% rebate of the property tax on machinery and inventory to small businesses, and tax credits to West Virginia Veterans," Justice explained.
Additionally, "it also puts us on a pathway toward the complete elimination of our personal income tax. It’s a win-win for all West Virginians and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome."
"I applaud the House and Senate for all their hard work. I am hopeful that both bodies pass it quickly, so that we can all celebrate its signing together very soon," Justice concluded.
The bill’s key components were read out during a WV Senate Finance Committee session, according to a report from local station WBOY.
The highlights include a 21.25 percent reduction in personal income tax overall tax brackets, a refundable tax credit for personal property paid on automobile bills, 100 percent refundable tax credit for disabled veterans against personal income taxes paid on a homestead, and a 50 percent refundable credit against personal or corporate tax income for personal property.
The bill will also "trigger future income tax reductions based on a formula that uses general revenue collections in a fiscal year minus severance tax collections as compared to the base year of the fiscal year 2019 (adjusted for inflation). If the result exceeds the base year, a tax reduction would be triggered, not exceeding 10 percent," according to the report.
Justice has been fighting to lower the state’s income tax, with hopes of one day eliminating it entirely.
“We’ve been blessed as a state with these incredible revenue surpluses, and the last thing I'm going to be ashamed of is just how good we’re doing,” Justice said in December, according to a report from Center Square. “West Virginians should be really, really proud because our state is seeing growth and opportunity the likes of which we haven’t seen in history.”
