CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Continuing the push to eliminate the state’s income tax, Putnam County Republican Sen. Eric Tarr outlined some of his reasoning this weekend.
Eliminating the tax was proposed by GOP Gov. Jim Justice in his State of the State Address Wednesday.
Tarr, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, said that most states without an income tax are outperforming economically.
“When you look at the states that have no income tax and look at their gross state product, income per capita, the population growth rates, and their labor force participation rate, the average of those far exceeds West Virginia,” Tar said.
He also discussed the significance of combating West Virginia’s population loss.
“One of the biggest things that we have to tackle right now is getting population growth back in West Virginia. We’ve lost a congressional member because of the loss of population. Our population rate of growth over the past 10 years has been 3.7 percent of loss. The average population growth for a no income tax state is 6.5 percent.
“If we don’t do this now — and time is so opportune to do it –, we’re just going to sit where we’ve been for a long time.”
He also addressed what he called the objective to improve West Virginia’s tax structure by advancing legislation that assists in providing families with financial stability through legislative tax reforms.
“We will still be looking at how we get off the bottom of the list for our taxation structure, how do we get our people to work, how do we get families income beyond where they are just struggling and average, and how do we make West Virginia the place to come. We can do that right here.”
Tarr, who lives at Scott Depot, represents the 4th State Senate District.