Income tax elimination bill voted down by entire House of Delegates

Apr. 11—CHARLESTON — Marion County lawmakers say Gov. Jim Justice's plan to eliminate the state income tax died for various reasons.

Del. Phil Mallow, R-East Side, said House Bill 3300 was unanimously voted down after coming back from the Senate given there were tax increases throughout it. He said if someone really understands Governor Jim Justice's bill everybody ends up cash positive. However, there would be more tax on cigarettes and other lower lying things.

"Everybody that sent us emails and letters, all of our constituents asked us to kind of vote it down," said Mallow.

He said some people had said that the decreased income tax would help bring more people into West Virginia.

"We would be the northern most state with no personal income tax and we might draw some people in here. I think that's what the governor was shooting for but there's just a lot on there that people don't understand," said Mallow.

Del. Guy Ward, R-White Hall, said the senate's plan was fairly similar to the governor's plan and nobody in the House liked the governor's plan and the Senate didn't like the House's plan. The bill was sent back to the House Finance Committee Friday.

"I don't think our original plan had 100% support from the House members, but it did have the majority of the House members' supporting it," said Ward.

Ward said his thought was not to do anything to taxes right now because the of the persistence of the pandemic.

"Now is not the time to be fooling with taxes so I think we need to leave it alone, maybe come back to it next year and discuss it," said Ward.

He said he would like to see personal income tax go away but personal income tax cannot be eliminated without increasing taxes elsewhere, which Ward said wouldn't work.

Ward said the House's idea was to decrease personal income tax gradually until it went away entirely.

"As you take off a little bit every year, the money that you put back in people's pockets should go back into the economy which will generate other revenue through sales tax and different taxes," said Ward.

Ward said the budget looks good and the state is at a surplus this year and said the tax issue is something that can be talked about in interims as the House will meet four of five times throughout the year.

"I'm all in favor for it with the senate and the governor, but their plan, nobody liked it. I couldn't find one delegate that liked it," said Ward.

He also said he didn't have one constituent reach out to him and tell him they liked the bill.

"The governor needs to wake up and realize his plan is not what the people want," said Ward.

Ward said the biggest thing is businesses that create jobs and where most tax revenue comes from is from people having good paying jobs go out and spend money on homes and cars.

"That all generates the economy and that generates more tax revenue and you don't have to raise taxes," said Ward.

Del. Joey Garcia, D-Fairmont, said throughout the entire session, he's talked about his concerns about the reduction of the income tax but also other tax increases.

"That bill was just a bad bill, and it's amazing when you have 100 people who have all different types of viewpoints and they all come together and say 'this is just a bad bill,'" said Garcia.

Garcia said that probably wouldn't have happened if the governor hadn't made statements calling into question the "courage" of the House to take a vote on the bill.

"I think otherwise it would have sat there and probably would have not been taken up but I think the House reacted," said Garcia.

He said he's heard from a lot of people in Marion County that they were relieved and happy to see that the bill died.

"I doubt this is the end of the discussion about this but for now this is not going to happen this year," said Garcia.

Garcia said he personally doesn't believe that income taxes are a problem in West Virginia.

"I would rather see that we use funding that we currently have to invest in broadband, in roads, and public education and higher education workforce training," said Garcia.

He said those are the things the state needs to attract people and businesses to West Virginia. He said he doesn't see the governor just letting the issue go and there may be a special session later this year.

"I was happy not only with the fact that there's not going to be an income tax repeal this year and I believe the budget which has a direct relation to what they did with that bill, that it's going to fully fund our higher education institutions and a lot of the other priorities that are important for the state of West Virginia and Marion County," said Garcia.

Reach Sarah Marino at 304-367-2549