
<p>With the financial disaster Americans have been subjected to under Joe Biden, residents of certain blue states, like California and Hawaii, have been living with high-income taxes. </p>



<p>Some red states like Florida, on the other hand, don’t collect tax from residents on income. One red state has now moved to cut income tax in half in order to make life easier for its residents.</p>



<p>The Republican-led House of West Virginia recently passed a bill on Wednesday, January 18, whereby the personal income tax of the state’s residents will be cut by 50%, i.e., half of the current tax rate. </p>



<p>The bill, HB 2526, is the result of Governor Jim Justice’s proposal that would cut the personal income tax of WV residents by 30 percent in the first year and then a further 10 percent each year over the following two years, adding up to a total of 50% tax cut in 3 years.</p>



<p><em>The Washington Times</em> reported that the Democrat lawmakers in the state support an alternative tax cut plan whereby residents making less than $80,000 a year wouldn’t have to pay income tax at all while those making more than $80,000 a year would continue to pay income tax at the existing rate of 6.5%.</p>



<p>The Republicans, on the other hand, do not believe in taxing only the higher-paying segment of the population because they are the ones who create jobs and contribute to the economy by spending more in employee wages and bringing business to the state.</p>



<p>HB 2526 is now in the WV Senate, where Republicans reportedly are angry with Governor Justice’s tax cut plans. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric Tarr calls Justice’s tax plan “very risky” as it gives a big tax cut and accordingly affects the state budget. The state Senate Republicans have their own tax cut plan that would provide some $800 million-dollars-worth of tax cuts to residents as against $1.2 billion resulting from Governor Justice’s proposed plan. Tarr was cited in <em>News and Sentinel</em> as:</p>



<p><em>“Our income tax makes up more than 40% of our state budget. If we go in and use one-time money to do that large of a cut is very risky. It’s very unsafe.”</em></p>



<p>Tarr has expressed hope that all Republican sides could come to an agreement on a tax reform plan by March 11, which marks the end of the 60-day legislative session.</p>

This Red State May Cut Income Tax in Half
