By DAVID BEARD
The Dominion Post
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Senate Finance Committee took up a new version of the new tax reform bill — SB 409 — and set it aside for a while after encountering some unanswered questions and troubling financial projections.
Elizabeth Pardue, acting director of research in the Department of Revenue Tax Division, reviewed a fiscal note accompanying the bill that shows it producing a $61 million surplus for Fiscal Year 2018. But that quickly turns around, with projected deficits of $91 million for FY 2019 and $127 million for FY 2020.
While raising the sales tax generates additional revenue, she said, those gains are offset by the income tax losses. For FY 2019, the revised tax brackets would produce anywhere from $487 million to $521 million less than the current system, according to a chart provided to the committee.
Members voted to lay the bill over for consideration another day, to give time to get questions answered and consider the financial implications.
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