West Virginia Governor Jim Justice signed the largest tax cut in state history, returning more than $750 million to state taxpayers.
Justice declared Tuesday during a ceremony at the state Culture Center that his state is "the diamond in the rough that people have been missing" and thanked the legislators who supported and helped craft the proposal, including House Speaker Roger Hanshaw and Senate President Craig Blair:
I sincerely thank President Hanshaw and President Blair, all their leadership teams, all their finance people. All the different people who pulled the string of my office (...) The world is looking at West Virginia. The world today sees West Virginia in a different light. We are not the blunt end of a bad joke. We are the diamond in the rough that people were missing. We have long known how good we are. Today we have put our stake in the sand, inviting everyone to our state.
The purpose of the law is to eliminate the income tax
The purpose of the law is to achieve the greatest possible reduction in personal income taxes from 2025 onwards. This process will be carried out through progressive annual tax cuts over the next few years.
To begin the process, the tax reform will implement a 21.25% reduction in tax rates across all tax brackets this year.
Additional reductions of other taxes through refundable tax credits will be implemented in 2024. Some of the cuts will be, for example, in the automobile tax (100% reduction), or taxes on tangible personal property (50% cut), which includes machinery, equipment, and inventory owned by small businesses. Both taxes are paid to the county sheriff's office.
Disabled veterans are entitled to an additional 100% real estate tax credit. In other words, they will not pay property taxes.
We did it.
✍🏼 I signed the largest tax cut in West Virginia history into law.
🙅🏻 Personal income tax cut.
🚙 Vehicle property tax rebate.
🇺🇸 Disabled vets full homestead exemption.
🔩 Small businesses tax credit for machinery, equipment and inventory.
📸: #WVTaxCutsNow pic.twitter.com/rzRuiJUat8
— Jim Justice (@JimJusticeWV) March 7, 2023
Income tax reduction, reflected in payrolls this year
West Virginia Department of Revenue Secretary Dave Hardy said that the withholding tables will be sent to employers on April 1 of this year. Individuals will begin to see changes in terms of personal income tax withholding (which will be lower).
Hardy indicated that the refunds will go into effect for next year's tax season:
When you pay your property taxes in 2024 on your cars, or if you're a small business and you're paying it on your personal property, keep that receipt because that receipt will be your ticket (...) For a small business, 50 cents on the dollar refund. For individuals, 100 cents on the dollar for your car - full reimbursement.
"The West Virginia Division of Taxation will issue revised withholding tables no later than April 1, 2023. Taxpayers making estimated payments will be able to reduce their payments beginning April 15, 2023, and thereafter," the governor's office said.
