The House Finance Committee started discussing the proposed tax cut favored by the governor, but there has been no resolution yet.
The House has already passed a budget bill reflecting no tax cut at all. The governor introduced a proposed budget with a 5% personal income tax cut but aspires to a 10% cut. The Senate passed a bill reflecting a 10% tax cut offset somewhat by an increased tax on vape products.
What the House Finance Committee discussed on Tuesday morning was the version of the bill that the Senate passed over. Delegate Vernon Criss, chairman of the committee, was clear in remarks during the meeting and then afterward that the committee would vote on the bill later, Thursday, and that could include amendments.
“We’ve explained the Senate bill in a public hearing. It would be on the agenda on Thursday for markup and discussion and amendments,” said Criss, R-Wood.
He added, “An amendment can mean anything. That’s the committee process and the ability of the 25 people in the room to provide amendments that will be taken up before this body.”
A 5% tax cut is estimated to amount to about $125 million in state revenue. A 10% tax cut is estimated at $250 million.
The vape tax change is expected to raise an extra $22 million for the state.
Following this morning’s discussion, the lead Democrat on the finance committee, John Williams, said this process lays out priorities in black and white.
Williams noted that the legislation reviewed by the committee would make the tax cut retroactive to this past Jan. 1.
In contrast, he said, the finance committee passed out legislation on Friday that would make more money available for local school finances three years from now.
“It tells me that it’s not public schools that we’re invested in; it’s the wealthiest people who live in our state that we want to give a tax cut to,” said Williams, D-Monongalia.
In December, the state school board approved consolidations and closures of more than a dozen schools across six counties. The state board recently agreed to two more closures in Wayne County. The state also experienced a wave of school consolidations last year.
“It’s incredibly concerning,” Williams said. “I also don’t think we can afford to look at this in a vacuum by what solely reducing compared to our budget when we do have this school aid formula bill, we do have other tax cut bills out there, and we also know that federal funding in the next two to six years is going to decrease by nearly a billion dollars.”
Broadly, Williams said, “I was surprised we took up the 10 percent today, but then upon further reflection I suppose we could see some type of amendment at some point to take it down to the 5 percent because there is an active negotiation happening between the the governor, the Senate and the House — so maybe that’s what we’re looking at.”
Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, has pushed for weeks for a tax cut, saying his administration has identified a route to the 5% and asking to work with legislators for a way to get to 10 percent.
He repeated that priority during a news conference Monday morning.
“I still want to get to 10 percent. The Senate got to 10 percent. I’m telling you, I’m going to work with everyone, ok. I’m going to work with people. But it’s unacceptable to have 0 for the hard working men and women of our state,” Morrisey said Monday.
“When I travel all across West Virginia, they say that. They say ‘How can you have a big surplus like that governor and not even try to return money back?’ We’re trying, but we need to House to step forward.”
The governor added, “We’ll sit down in a room and we’ll knock it out. I think we can make it happen.”
By Monday afternoon, the governor was spotted in a seat in the hallway outside the House Finance room.
Door: darkened ✅ https://t.co/r22AjyUU1a pic.twitter.com/rgnAvg4pfG
— Maddy Sperling (@maddysperl) March 2, 2026