An editorial from the Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Bipartisan committee gears up to tackle reform of state tax system
As people across the state scramble to file their tax returns this week, it’s encouraging to hear that major tax reform could be around the corner for West Virginia.
The Republican majority in the Legislature would like to overhaul the state’s tax code, and it has assembled a bipartisan joint committee to begin looking at the issue. Lawmakers would like to take up comprehensive tax reform in a special session this November so the issue won’t get lost during the 2016 regular session.
Senate President Bill Cole, R-Mercer, called the work the committee will do “the most important piece of legislation — the most important task — that maybe we could possibly have ever taken up as a Legislature.”
Citing three major tax studies that have examined the state tax system since the 1980s, Cole said the conclusion is inescapable: “Our tax system is unfair, it’s too complicated and it’s an obstacle to economic growth and the creation of jobs.”
