Latest / Commentary - TJ Meadows / No Income Tax at All, Listening to a Pro, and the Hurdle to be Governor

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No Income Tax at All, Listening to a Pro, and the Hurdle to be Governor · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: End of week commentaries are sometimes a chance to hit
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  Speaker 1: a few issues at once during session. There's no shortage.
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  Speaker 1: Here are three point one Senate Bill six point eighty.
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  Speaker 1: There's plenty of talk about another five percent income tax
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  Speaker 1: cuts the governor has floated ten. Some Senators want to
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  Speaker 1: go to zero, eliminating both the personal and corporate net
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  Speaker 1: income taxes altogether. Philosophically, I understand the argument taxing labor
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  Speaker 1: seems punitive, but fiscal reality matters. The personal income tax
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  Speaker 1: generates about two point one billion dollars a year in
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  Speaker 1: revenue for the state, nearly half of the state's general
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  Speaker 1: revenue budget. Corporate net income tax adds roughly three hundred
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  Speaker 1: and seventy six million dollars more. You can't possibly wipe
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  Speaker 1: out two point five billion dollars in funding without either
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  Speaker 1: cutting services or replacing the revenue. That's not ideology, that's arithmetic.
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  Speaker 1: Consumption or luxury taxes could be alternate, but a plan
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  Speaker 1: should proceed the promise. If Senators Rose, Rucker and Chapman
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  Speaker 1: really want this to move, they owe fellow legislators and
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  Speaker 1: more importantly, citizens, a fully scored systematic tax and expense plan. Personally,
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  Speaker 1: i'd like a few good spreadsheets to make the case,
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  Speaker 1: minus that this all seems more like campaign grand standing
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  Speaker 1: than governing. In my opinion, the voters won't buy it.
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  Speaker 1: Point two the Team West Virginia Jobs Ohio concept. Brad Smith, Marshall, President,
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  Speaker 1: former Fortune three hundred CEO and Major League boardroom player,
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  Speaker 1: is supportive and enthusiastic of the idea. When someone with
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  Speaker 1: that background points to a proven economic model, lawmakers should
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  Speaker 1: lean in. Instead, the pace feels casual. That's hard to
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  Speaker 1: square with someone like Smith making the case. Legislators need
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  Speaker 1: to move on this one, and Governor Morris he should
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  Speaker 1: eagerly sign it. No time for delay. Point three Senate
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  Speaker 1: Resolution nineteen Senator Ruby Phillips wants voters to consider a
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  Speaker 1: longer residency requirement for governors. Some see principle, others politics.
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  Speaker 1: The simplest resolution, let the voters decide is five years
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  Speaker 1: too short or too long of a residency requirement. Legislators
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  Speaker 1: will struggle to separate the politics from sound policy on
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  Speaker 1: this issue. Run the resolution and rely on the concept
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  Speaker 1: of vox popular Vox day the Voice of the People
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  Speaker 1: is the Voice of God. For a deeper dive on
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: these topics and to share your thoughts. Read the full
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: commentary at WV metronews dot com.