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Gov. Justice having Legislation prepared to eliminate the state tax on Social Security benefits

Press Release

Date: Jan. 23, 2019
Location: Charleston, WV
Issues: Entitlements and the Safety Net

Legislation is being prepared after Gov. Jim Justice announced during his State of the State address that he wants to eliminate the state tax on Social Security benefits.

"It is time for us to eliminate the tax on Social Security," Gov. Justice said. "We're going to give our citizens a choice. If you want to keep the standard $8,000 deduction you can. If you want your Social Security totally exempt then you can do that. Again, it will be your choice."

The Governor's proposal will:

Completely exclude social security benefits from State taxation
Provide the same treatment for social security benefits as military retirement and various other exclusions in relationship to the standard $8,000 deduction
In simple terms, taxpayers choose between the social security exclusion and the $8,000 exclusion, whichever produces the greatest tax savings
The cost to the State Treasury would be roughly $50 million in FY 2020 as reflected in the Governor's Budget Proposal​


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