West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice held a Town Hall on the afternoon of Monday, Feb. 22, to address specific concerns regarding his proposal to eliminate the state’s income tax. During the Town Hall, the governor fielded questions from West Virginians who were curious as to how the proposal will impact the state.
Justice began the town hall by asking a question of his own.
“So what is this really all about?” Justice began. “Is it all about trying to reduce your personal tax, of which absolutely we will do, or is it all about an opportunity? Well, first and foremost, I believe it’s all about an opportunity.”
Justice first announced his plan to eliminate the income tax during his “State of the State” address two weeks ago, saying, “What if I were to say to you, this is your chance, West Virginia! [] This is an opportunity beyond all comparison.”
The first question fielded by the governor was regarding the extremely short notice provided by his office when announcing the town hall.
“Why would you hold a town hall with only three to four hours notice during the workday,” the question began. “How serious are you about West Virginians being able to participate? Why not a primetime town hall with several days to submit questions?”
Justice stated that the town hall is the first step in “educating the public,” and that multiple town halls will be scheduled in the near future. Justice also stated that a second town hall will take place Wednesday evening, Feb. 24.
“We’ll have however many we have to have for the people to understand what I’m trying to do,” Justice said.
A resident of Dunbar asked a four-part question.
• How will eliminating the personal income tax affect the economic growth in West Virginia?
• Will this proposal help PEIA in its financial matters?
• What’s the downside to eliminating the personal income tax?
• How much will we stand to lose if this goes through?
“We’re still losing population in West Virginia,” Justice said. “Tell me just simply this — when the band quits playing, why are people going to come to West Virginia? [] If we get on a pathway to extinguish our state income tax, it will drive incredible opportunity to the state of West Virginia. It will drive opportunity for the ability for our wages to increase substantially. It will drive opportunity for our schools. It will drive up our property values. This will drive so much good. This can increase the funding for PEIA. As far as the downside, I see none. It won’t cost us anything except a tremendous amount of people that will come and bring job opportunities, and bring a tremendous amount of goodness to this state.”
After this, Justice addressed the confusion surrounding the idea of a “wealth tax.”
“That was an absolute mistake of mine in the State of the State,” Justice said. “I should have never called it a ‘wealth tax’. [] What it is, is a consumption, or a luxury-type tax. It has nothing to do with your home or your wealth or your situation today in any way. This is not income redistribution or whatever. [] If you go out and you can buy a bracelet. And it’s a $12,000 bracelet. I feel like that our most wealthy should contribute more. A one-item purchase, in excess of $5,000, is what we’ve got plugged in right now.”
The governor was also asked if he had studied, or is modeling his plan after, what is currently being done in any other income-tax-free states, such as Washington state. For this question, Justice deferred to West Virginia State Secretary of Revenue Dave Hardy.
“We looked at virtually every state, literally all 50 states,” Hardy said. “But we specifically zeroed in on the nine-states that don’t have an income tax. [] We also took a hard look at Tennessee, because Tennessee is, in many ways, the most like West Virginia. It’s got a lot of commonalities. And geographically it’s pretty close, so we felt like that’s a place that we might be competing with to try to attract people to come to our state. So yes, the answer is yes. [] Also keep in mind that we wanted to tailor any ideas that we had to West Virginia, its unique demographics and its unique population and its unique household income.”
Justice concluded by urging all West Virginians to, “call your representatives and make your viewpoints known.”
The West Virginia Daily News will provide updates regarding Gov. Justice’s income tax elimination proposal as additional details become available.
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