Tax plan tabled

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Apr. 10—CHARLESTON — After Gov. Jim Justice blasted House members in general and House Speaker Roger Hanshaw in particular at a noon news conference Friday on tabling his Justice 4 All personal income tax elimination plan, the House decided to vote on it after all later in the afternoon, dealing Justice an overwhelming blow to the plan, rejecting it in a rare 100-0 vote.

During the news conference, Justice said the House is not going to vote on it because "they are afraid to vote ... They don't want to go on record. That is some really bad stuff. It's just plain rotten to the core."

But a few hours later, the House reversed course, killing the legislation by going on record in a unanimous decision.

Del. Marty Gearheart, R-Mercer County, who has always opposed the plan because of the tax hikes included to offset the cuts in the personal income tax, said Friday after the vote it is "bad policy and has been rejected on that basis."

"I used my prior published comment (about opposing the plan) on the floor and asked for a unanimous vote and informed the Governor that the House understands the difference between a tax cut and a tax increase and shift," Gearheart said.

Justice said during the earlier news conference he had talked to Hanshaw, also a Republican, and adjusted the personal income tax bill based on what Hanshaw said were obstacles to the plan, including using a projected $80 million surplus and property tax adjustments to offset the $818 million drop in tax revenue during the first year of his plan, which would lower the income tax by 50 percent that first year then phased out afterwards over about four years.

The obstacles were removed from the proposal, but no action was taken, he said, not even further discussions in the House before tabling it for this session. At that point at mid-day Friday it was expected to be tabled.

"Today is very disappointing," he said, blaming the delegates' decision on lobbyists and special interests.

But House members have been speaking out against Justice's plan for some time, not supporting the tax increases, including a hike in the sales tax, on tobacco products, and on other products and services.

During a summit on the issue Monday, Republican Del. Eric Householder promoted the House plan to phase in the termination of the personal income tax over a period of 12 years as state surpluses could be used to avoid any tax hikes at all.

Householder said Justice's plan was just a tax shift, like getting water from one side of the lake and dumping it into the other side.

Justice said Householder complained about the tax on soda pop (which was removed) and tobacco and "that is coming from lobbyists."

Democrats released a statement saying the plan was merely a means to benefit people with money but it would hurt lower-wage earners.

Ending the personal income tax would put more money into people's pockets because they would see more than enough in their paychecks to offset extra costs of the tax hikes, Justice said.

With his plan off the table for this session, he said he will go "on the road" to sell his proposal to the people, "educating" them on the benefits, including bringing more people to the state.

"I am not going to quit, I am not going to roll over," he said. "I think we've made great progress."

Justice said the time is right to make a move that may entice people to move here.

"People are realizing West Virginia is a safe, beautiful place to live," he said, referring to the positive national coverage the state has received on how it has handled the pandemic. "Now is our moment."

"It may take two years, it may take 30 days (to get it back on agenda and pass it)," he said, adding that he is asking former Senate Presidents Bill Cole and Mitch Carmichael as well as his opponent in the primary last year, Woody Thrasher, to help him explain the plan, saying they are "people who may think about running for governor after I am gone."

A special session on the issue may be possible, he said, or he may wait and bring it back next year.

However, given the House vote Friday afternoon, the future of the bill may at best be murky.

In the meantime, he said he will not back down and will continue to everything he can to make get it passed, but he said that before the House vote.

The Senate reached a compromise on his proposal on Wednesday, but by a narrow 18-16 vote with several Republicans opposing it, and the legislation then went to the House to concur.

Justice also criticized Hanshaw on another matter related to not taking action against a delegate who, Justice said, exhibited "unacceptable" behavior in the Capitol Building.

He said Del. Joe Jeffries, R-Putnam County, was "screaming obscenities" at some Senators "in our Capitol."

"It is just unthinkable we have gotten to that level," Justice said, adding that he is requiring Hanshaw to ask Jeffries to either resign or make a "public apology" to those Senators, a demand, he said, Hanshaw should have already made.

Justice did not go into details on what Jeffries was upset about, basically condemning the behavior that is "absolutely intolerable."

He also made a reference to "a bunch of semi-out-of-control" people mimicking the "look of a mob" in an incident that occurred after a Senate and House conference, but did not provide the details.

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com