CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Republican West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Friday called for a summit with legislative leaders to strike a compromise over how to cut the state income tax.
Republicans’ top statehouse priority of lowering the state’s income tax has stalled because of dueling proposals. They want to enact tax reform this year in the hopes lower taxes will drive residents to move into the state, where the population has been declining.
But time is not on their side, with the session scheduled to end next Saturday.
Justice called for a compromise meeting Monday that would be open to the media.
“At 12 o’clock, let’s quit messing around,” Justice said. “Let’s bring all the leadership together. Let’s present all the different ideas. I’m perfectly willing to compromise.”
Justice led the charge with his proposal submitted in early March to cut income tax by 60% while raising sales tax from 6% to 7.9%, which would be the highest in the nation. It also proposes a tax on luxury goods, raising severance taxes on industries such as coal, oil and natural gas, and increasing taxes on tobacco products, beer, wine and liquor.
Senate Republican leaders earlier this week came out with their own plan, and the governor accused them of blindsiding him. The Senate bill would raise sales tax even further, up to 8.5%, and revive a tax on groceries that the state phased out in 2013.
Justice balked at those components of the plan and said he didn’t want to cut the income tax “on the backs of the people that are struggling the most.”
Revenue from the income tax makes up about 40% of the state’s budget.
Legislative leaders had not yet responded to the governor’s overture Friday afternoon. The president of the Senate, Craig Blair, did not receive an invite by the time he left the statehouse early in the day for the weekend, spokeswoman Jacque Bland said.
Unlike Justice’s plan, the Senate version of the plan would not give people earning less than $35,000 a year an unspecified tax rebate check. It also does not raise some taxes on businesses and does not include a tax on luxury items.
Justice has said he wants the wealthy and energy companies to “throw a few extra pennies” through his proposed taxes in order to cut the income tax.
The House of Delegates passed its own bill to cut the income tax on a 77-23 vote Monday. The Senate is expected to drastically amend it with its own proposal.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.