More income tax cuts coming to West Virginia

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WOWK) — Income taxes may be getting cut in West Virginia this year not once, but twice, and another big budget surplus is the reason.

Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) was joined by a group of delegates and senators as he announced that the state’s fiscal year ended Sunday with an $826 million budget surplus.

The governor said that this surplus should trigger an automatic 3% to 4% tax cut on the first of the year. After that, he’ll call lawmakers back for a special session and propose they pass another 5% income tax cut.

Gov. Justice also wants the state legislature to pass a childcare tax credit to help families and said that all of this should help bring people to West Virginia for thousands of new jobs.

“When all these jobs kick in, all this manufacturing and everything that is on the way right now, we’ll jump again like you can’t imagine. And absolutely if we can get rid of our personal income tax, we’ll jump like you can’t imagine, on top of that,” said Gov. Jim Justice, (R) West Virginia.

Gov. Justice said that a special session will happen in August or September.

The governor has previously said the issue of home school assessments may also come up in a special session following the death of 14-year-old Kyneddi Miller in Boone County.

Last year, the legislature and governor passed the largest tax cut in state history by cutting the personal income tax by 21%.

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