(DailyDig.com) – West Virginia’s governor, Jim Justice, a Republican, announced during his yearly budget proposal back in January that he aims to see state taxes be eliminated for Social Security payments. On February 22, the West Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill to gradually eliminate its tax on these payments.
Being one of the last states to still require tax payments for Social Security, phasing out this tax began in 2019, when it started with recipients who were in a lower income bracket. Delegate Vernon Criss (R-Wood) announced the completion of their three-year initial process last year.
The process was intended to be enacted in stages for individual filers with incomes below 50 thousand dollars. Starting in 2020, they received a 35 percent cut; in 2021, a 65 percent cut; and the final stage in 2022 was a 100 percent cut.
The bill just passed in the House will eventually eliminate the Social Security tax for all income brackets if passed by the Senate. It would also phase in the cuts during a three-year period, matching the percentage the lower-income filers received each year. By 2026, the state will eliminate all Social Security taxes.
In 2023, West Virginia will begin a more comprehensive tax cut for all state taxes. State legislators reduced state income tax rates by more than twenty percent. This was the largest state tax cut that West Virginia has ever authorized in its history. However, the recent Social Security tax cuts have had both critics and supporters. Many have praised the cuts as the correct direction the state must attain, while others are worried about how they will affect the state’s budget.
A spokesman for AARP WV, Tom Hunter, said that Social Security was meant to keep seniors from becoming poverty-stricken, not to provide funding for state governments. This elimination of the state tax on Social Security may cause more seniors to remain in West Virginia instead of relocating to states that already let them keep their payments.
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