Logan Banner – April legislative interim committee meetings were highlighted by the launch of a new select committee on tax reform. Read
House Speaker Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, spelled out the mandate of the Joint Select Committee on Tax Reform, stating, “We have a tax structure in West Virginia that’s broken, that’s burdensome, and that’s bewildering to a lot of people.”
Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer, noting that West Virginia had dropped from 30th to 36th in the American Legislative Exchange Council’s “Rich State, Poor States” report, said of the drop in the ALEC rankings, “It’s more or less, the other states are moving forward in aggressively cutting taxes.”
Headed by Senate and House Finance Chairmen Mike Hall, R-Putnam, and Eric Nelson, R-Kanawha, the committee is to spend the spring and summer studying the state’s tax system, with an aim of making reforms to make the state more attractive to business investment. “I think the first thing we have to determine is, what does a fair tax system look like,” Hall said.
