Senate moves to concur with House changes to SB 392, advancing an income tax cut

The West Virginia Senate on the floor agreed to the House amendments to Senate Bill 392, a measure to reduce the state's personal income tax.

Senator from Lewis said, "The purpose of this bill is to provide a reduction in the personal income tax." He explained that the House of Delegates lowered the income-tax reduction from the 10% level the Senate had sent and removed a Senate provision that would have increased the sales tax on certain vape products. "The House removed that section, to preserve the income tax," the senator said, urging adoption of the House version.

The Senate voted to concur with the House amendment and pass SB 392 by recorded vote, reported in the transcript as 31 yeas, 2 nays and 1 absent. Later the prevailing side moved to reconsider the vote; on the reconsideration motion the transcript records a passage tally of 32 yeas and 2 nays.

Why it matters: The bill changes state income-tax policy. The transcript indicates the final adopted version reduces the personal income tax by a smaller percentage than originally proposed in the Senate version and that a proposed offsetting sales-tax increase was removed in the House amendment.

What's next: The clerk was instructed to communicate the Senate's action to the House; the transcript does not state the exact effective date for SB 392 within the floor remarks recorded here.

Quote source: Senator from Lewis (floor remarks).