TAZEWELL, Va. — Virginia Del. James “Will” Morefield announced Monday that he will file legislation to eliminate for 10 years personal and corporate income tax for all Virginia residents and businesses who reside in the poorest counties.
“Our region is in desperate need of jobs,” he said in a news release. “The poorest counties in Virginia require more than just the status quo for economic development and we need a significant change in policy to make this happen.”
Morefield, R-Tazewell, will file the legislation during the 2018 General Assembly session. He has been working on the bill for some time and hopes to have it finalized within the next few weeks, he said.
He said he knows the proposed legislation will be amended and recommendations will be made but he wants to “start something now.”
“The people of Southwest Virginia are tired of the same economic development conversations,” Morefield wrote in an email. “The only way we are going to change the situation is to actually do something about it on a large scale.”
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Morefield said that business leaders across Southwest Virginia’s coalfields are confident this proposed legislation would encourage new industry to locate in this area and create a significant impact.
Additionally, Morefield is working with legislative staff and professionals in Richmond to “establish a formula to qualify those counties,” while maintaining a sense of awareness that this plan needs to be fiscally sound for the entire state.
Morefield said he anticipates that legislators who represent wealthier areas of the state will support the legislation in some fashion. Those legislators understand that if this economic situation is not resolved soon for Southwest and Southside Virginia, it will become an even larger burden on the state, Morefield said.
“The coalfields and surrounding counties have suffered long enough,” he said. “We can no longer afford to see the residents of our region leave their home.”