Corporate
net income taxes should be pared back, if slowly
The state Senate
Finance Committee has a good plan to cut the corporate net income tax rate from
8.75 percent to 6.5 percent over the next two years. That would drop
Another bill would
fade out the state's business franchise tax over seven years.
State government
could downsize through attrition to offset the considerable loss of revenue,
Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, told a public broadcasting
reporter. Certainly, these changes would be a good start to the business tax
reform that has been talked about, but not acted upon in any substantial way,
for many years. Sen. Vic Sprouse, R-Kanawha, called it "the biggest news of
the entire session and maybe the last few years."
Sprouse praised
Helmick and Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, for spearheading the effort. They
have definitely shown good intent. It remains to be seen whether they've done
their homework in lining up support for the changes on the other side of the
Capitol.
Bringing the
state's businesses taxes in line with competing states can't hurt in the effort
to attract more companies and jobs to
"This is very
significant for recharging the business community and moving us into a growth
mode," McCabe said. "We're trying to be very competitive with the
states around us. This will do it."
State government
revenues are at a record high thanks to a healthy coal industry and growth at
the state's four racetracks. This is an opportunity to get the state
government's financial house in order and to promote the long-term growth the
state needs.