Charleston Gazette – Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin is taking a cautious approach to the newly formed legislative Joint Select Committee on Tax Reform, calling on panel to be mindful of the state’s “fiscally responsible policies” as it pursues any possible tax cuts. Read
“As Senate president and as governor, Gov. Tomblin has worked hard to cut taxes for hardworking West Virginia families and the businesses that employ them in a fiscally responsible manner,” Tomblin spokesman Chris Stadelman said Tuesday.
That included completing the repeal of the sales tax on food, eliminating the business franchise tax, and rolling back the corporate net tax to a competitive 6.5 percent.
In the inaugural meeting of the interim committee Monday, Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer, and House Speaker Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, called on the panel to reform a tax system described as broken and burdensome.
Cole cited the most recent “Rich States, Poor States” report by the corporately funded American Legislative Exchange Council, which dropped West Virginia from 30th to 36th in its ranking, a decline Cole attributed to other states “moving forward in aggressively cutting taxes.”
