CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Joint Committee on Tax Reform spent a second day hearing about the state’s tax structure. This time, the topic was how the state compares to the rest of the country, and what other states have done about tax reform.
Experts from the Tax Foundation, the Council on State Taxation, the National Conference of State Legislators and West Virginia University and Marshall University gave lawmakers updates on other states’ progress and failures, as well as West Virginia’s ratings in comparison with other states.
“We don’t want to go there,” Hall said.
Kansas did indeed make tax cuts amounting to $4.5 billion over six years, according to the Tax Foundation’s Joseph Henchman. Henchman said Kansas would have needed 50 percent revenue return from growth not to fall short.
Some states have gotten it right, however.
Henchman said Indiana began reforms in 2013, repealing the estate tax, cutting individual income taxes and the corporate rate. Indiana continues to reform its tax structure, he said, with a “major reform” of personal property taxes and a tax on business equipment…
