The Legislature and the prior administration cut its personal income taxes significantly in recent years through a series of legislative and trigger-based reductions, resulting in a cumulative decrease of more than 20% since 2023.<\/p>\n
So while Hanshaw and Smith did not rule out additional tax cuts, they want to know more about the details.<\/p>\n
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Randy Smith<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s always for cutting taxes,\u201d said Smith, R-Tucker. \u201cI\u2019m a big tax cut guy, as well as probably everybody in this room. But the only difference is, the House and the Senate, sometimes we have to be the adults in the room because we have to pay the bills.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to make sure that you know that we\u2019re not going to bankrupt the state, or you know we\u2019re not going to destroy programs. So until we see exactly what \u2014 I\u2019m speaking for myself \u2014 until we see exactly what he\u2019s wanting to do, it\u2019s hard to say we\u2019re going to support. I support tax cuts, but I support responsible tax cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Roger Hanshaw<\/p>\n
Hanshaw followed up by saying, \u201cI don\u2019t know that I\u2019m a no. We want to be the lowest tax environment we can. I think it would be irresponsible for me to prematurely judge the governor\u2019s proposal until he lays it out tomorrow night.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, there\u2019s an appetite for tax reduction in almost any form. We want to be the lowest tax environment we can. I don\u2019t want to prejudge his proposal until he gives us the details about it tomorrow night. We\u2019re certainly not in no, put it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both the governor and the Republican majority in the House have proposed some sort of pay raise, but it\u2019s not yet been clear if there\u2019s agreement on an amount or who would be eligible for the raise.<\/p>\n
Delegates last month described a pay raise<\/a> proposal aimed teachers and service personnel.<\/p>\n Morrisey, a few days later, described the outlines of a pay raise<\/a> for all state employees.<\/p>\n \u201cWe discussed our priorities a couple of weeks ago. We talked about the need to continue down the path that we\u2019re on, specific to educators, I believe, I don\u2019t want to misquote the governor, but I believe he called for a broader pay raise a few days later when he gave some public comments,\u201d Hanshaw said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think there is every reason to believe there\u2019ll be a pay raise of some sort. We have traditionally done increments of five percentage points over time. I don\u2019t know what he\u2019ll call for tomorrow night, but I think it\u2019s safe to say that\u2019s in the mix of conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n Although the House has been explicit about many of its priorities, mostly having to do with economic and workforce development, the Senate so far has been less clear.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n