photo by: Steven Allen Adams

Gov. Jim Justice was joined by several lawmakers Thursday for a ceremonial bill signing of the 2% personal income tax cut bill. Pictured, from left, are Del. J.B. Akers, R-Kanawha; state Sen. Vince Deeds, R-Greenbrier; Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley; Justice; state Sen. Jack Woodrum, R-Summers; and state Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha.

CHARLESTON — In what could be his last major piece of legislation, Gov. Jim Justice signed the bill cutting personal income tax rates by 2%, bringing the total number of tax cuts and eliminations since taking office in 2017 to more than $1 billion.

Justice — joined by Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, and several lawmakers — signed Senate Bill 2033 Thursday afternoon outside of the west entrance to the State Capitol Building on an unseasonably warm and breezy fall day.

“It is another remarkable day in this unbelievable state,” Justice said. “Just look around. I mean, for crying out loud. If you can’t see the beauty and you can’t see God’s miracles, you’re just not looking.”

SB 2033 cuts personal income tax rates by 2% effective this coming January, returning approximately $46 million to taxpayers when fully implemented. Justice originally proposed a 5% personal income tax cut, but the governor and lawmakers compromised on 2% during a special session earlier in October.

The 2% cut joins a 4% personal income tax cut also going into effect in two months, returning an additional $92 million to taxpayers. Justice and lawmakers also passed a tax reform package in 2023 that cut the personal income tax by 21.25%, returning $488 million to taxpayers.

“What could we do in the State of West Virginia that would drive more growth to West Virginia than cut our personal income tax? What could we possibly do? And if anybody says there’s something that could drive more growth to West Virginia than that, you’re out of your mind,” Justice said.

Single filers, heads of households, and married couples filing jointly or separately will see their tax rates decrease from 2.36% to 2.22% if earning less than $9,000 in taxable income. Those earning between $10,000 and $24,999 will see rates reduce from 3.15% to 2.96%. Those earning between $25,000 and $39,000 will see rates reduce from 3.54% to 3.33%. Those earning between $40,000 and $59,000 will see rates reduce from 4.72% to 4.44%. And those earning more than $60,000 will see rates reduce from 5.12% to 4.82%.

“This isn’t the end-all-be-all for Toby and Edith. Out there, I always refer to Toby and Edith as our voters and everything,” Justice said. “But we are sending a message to the world that West Virginia is on a pathway of getting rid of their personal income tax. What’s that worth? It’s worth so much, it’s off the chart.”

Justice, who was first elected as a Democrat in 2016 before switching to Republican in 2017, is in the remaining two months of his second and final four-year term as governor. Justice is on the 2024 ballot as the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, facing Democratic former Wheeling mayor Glenn Elliott.

In the first months of his first term in 2017, Justice inherited a nearly $500 million hole in the fiscal year 2018 general revenue budget and butting heads with the Republican-led Legislature on how to fix the issue. Justice famously vetoed the Legislature’s version of the budget, presented on a silver platter with cow dung. The Legislature passed a different budget bill in a special session later that year that Justice allowed to become law without his signature.

But since 2017, tax revenue in the state has improved. Justice and the Legislature instituted flat general revenue budgets, resulting in larger and larger tax revenue surpluses at the end of each fiscal year. At the end of fiscal year 2023, the state recorded a record-breaking $1.8 billion surplus.

“Who could have ever thought that this would’ve really happened and everything? I believed it, and the reason I believed it is just simply just this: we have the greatest people, the greatest seasons, the greatest natural resources, and we’re located so close to population…We have so much and absolutely we just had to believe,” Justice said following Thursday’s bill signing. “We had to believe in ourselves and then we took off. And boy, it’s been a real ride. It’s been something that I’ll cherish and honor…for the rest of my life.”

Harkening back to his 2017 silver platter veto, Justice unveiled another silver platter Thursday. But instead of cow dung, the platter had gold bars, representing the state’s fiscal recovery.

“Today in this great state on this incredible day today, look what we got here today…The cow dupe went away, and today we’ve got gold bars,” Justice said.

Thursday’s ceremonial bill signing of the 2% personal income tax cut brought the total dollar amount returned to taxpayers to more than $1 billion since Justice took office in 2017. According to a report from the Senate President’s Office, the amount returned to taxpayers from various tax reductions and eliminations since 2013 is more than $1.5 billion.

“We’ve done a really, really good job of being able to manage our state government,” said Blair, who is finishing his second four-year term in the Senate after losing his May primary. “You can see that it’s accelerating. In an eight-year time period, we’ve been able to do $1 billion dollars and as long as the national and global economy keeps going right, we’re going to exceed expectations.”