West Virginia Senate Passes 10% Personal Income Tax Cut

Morrisey's proposal faces opposition from former Senate Finance chair and House Finance chair

Published on Feb. 21, 2026

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The West Virginia Senate passed a bill that would cut personal income tax rates by 10%, a proposal from Governor Patrick Morrisey. However, the bill faced criticism from the former Senate Finance Committee chairman and the chairman of the House Finance Committee, who warned about the potential financial risks of accelerating tax cuts without sufficient economic growth.

Why it matters

The personal income tax cut is a key part of Morrisey's legislative agenda, but it has raised concerns about the state's long-term fiscal stability. Critics argue that cutting taxes too quickly could create financial challenges similar to the late 1980s, when the state had to raise taxes and make deep spending cuts.

The details

Senate Bill 392 passed the Senate in a 28-4 vote, with the bill now heading to the House of Delegates. The bill would cut personal income tax rates by approximately 10% retroactive to January 1, 2026, returning $250 million to taxpayers. The cut would be partially funded by a new tax on vaping and e-cigarette products, which is intended to encourage the House to propose additional revenue offsets.

  • Senate Bill 392 passed the West Virginia Senate on February 21, 2026.
  • The personal income tax cut would be retroactive to January 1, 2026.

The players

Patrick Morrisey

The governor of West Virginia who proposed the 10% personal income tax cut.

Jason Barrett

The Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Vernon Criss

The Republican chairman of the House Finance Committee.

Eric Tarr

The previous Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, who voted against the bill.

Joey Garcia

The Democratic assistant minority leader in the Senate, who opposed the tax cut.

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What they’re saying

“We've built in a 10% tax cut in this budget. And we've done that with a little offset through the vape tax. The reason for doing that is to send a proposal over to the House to ask them to come to the table on that large tax cut, but also bring in some offsets of their own.”

— Jason Barrett, Senate Finance Committee Chairman (newsandsentinel.com)

“(Morrisey's) numbers don't work. In the long term, we are interested in making sure that we're here for the long haul. He's not. When I was here in the beginning in the late 80s, when we had financial distress, we were in a taxing mode … to tax everything that moved, to get dollars to come in. We don't want to be there again. We want to be responsible.”

— Vernon Criss, House Finance Committee Chairman (newsandsentinel.com)

“The way that you do that is you hold a flat budget where you reduce your spending, and then by that, you're going to increase your revenue reduction, which would be a tax cut. When you start going out now, especially with triggers in place that go ahead of 3%, you place us in a position in a future legislature to come back in and have to increase taxes or do cuts that you really, really don't want to have to cast a vote on.”

— Eric Tarr, Previous Senate Finance Committee Chairman (newsandsentinel.com)

“A $250 million tax cut right now is not the right thing to do when we have so many priorities that we're not going to be able to fund, not just now, but in the future. I think this tax cut is going to have the effect of tying our hands in the future on some of the most important things that could help West Virginians.”

— Joey Garcia, Senate Assistant Minority Leader (newsandsentinel.com)

What’s next

The bill now heads to the House of Delegates, where members will be asked to propose their own revenue offsets to help pay for the full 10% personal income tax cut and raise the revenue estimate back to the governor's recommended level.

The takeaway

The personal income tax cut proposal highlights the ongoing debate in West Virginia over the balance between tax relief and fiscal responsibility. While the governor sees the cut as a way to return money to taxpayers, critics argue it could jeopardize the state's long-term financial stability if not paired with sufficient economic growth and spending reductions.