CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two Kanawha County lawmakers felt differently following Gov. Jim Justice’s State of the State address on Wednesday.
Delegate Moore Capito, R-Kanawha, praised Justice’s ambitious plans for West Virginia — which includes phasing out the state income tax — while Delegate Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, shared an interest in learning more details about the governor’s proposals.
Capito, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Justice thinks big, which is something he likes about the governor.
“We need to think big in West Virginia,” Capito said. “We’ve got to start to grapple with some of the ideas that are going to put us and catapult us in a place that I think we want to be to compete with some of our peers to attract people to West Virginia.”
Moore said states that have reduced their income taxes have prospered from economic growth and interest from people wanting to move to those areas.
“I would submit to you there is a great appetite in the House and my understanding also in the Senate to make reductions in that area,” he said.
Moore also took note of Justice’s plans for attracting remote workers to the state.
Young, who is starting her first term in the state Legislature, said she wants to learn more about Justice’s plans before sharing her positions.
“It’s really going to come down to the details,” she said. “We’re really focused on getting West Virginians to stay and getting them to be successful, and I’m interested in seeing how cutting a billion dollars from our budget is going to be accomplished.”
Justice’s proposal would include increasing sales taxes, adding a sales tax on cigarettes and soda, and having a tiered system on oil, gas and coal taxes.
“The personal income tax makes up 43% of our state’s budget,” Youn noted. “From what I gathered tonight, it sounds like they are going to cut about half of that in the next year. It’ll be interesting to see how they make that up and who gets taxed.”
Wednesday marked the first day of the legislative session, but Moore noted lawmakers need to focus on completing legislative goals as quickly as possible because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is a very serious health environment that we’re living in right now, so we’re being very cautious inside these walls,” he said. “We’re also taking the approach that it’s a real possibility we might be limited on our time.”
The final scheduled day of the legislative session is April 10.