CHARLESTON — U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told a group of newspaper reporters, lawmakers and lobbyists on Friday that she believes the federal tax reform bill passed by Congress on Dec. 20 will help the vast majority of West Virginians.
"While it's not perfect, I think it's very, very good for West Virginians, and it's good for the nation," Capito said at a conference sponsored by the West Virginia Press Association to highlight issues likely to arise during the upcoming session of the West Virginia Legislature.
By doubling standard deductions and child tax credits, Capito said President Donald Trump's tax reform bill would help the 83 percent of West Virginia residents who don't itemize their taxes. Capito also said the bill would help small businesses in the state, 94 percent of which are owned by proprietors who file and individuals.
Capito said she believed tax relief for small business owners in the state would lead to higher wages and more investment. She said she talked to one business owner who said she would give her employees raises because she has trouble keeping workers.
Capito also said lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to about 20 percent would give companies incentive to move their corporations back to the United States. Many U.S. companies have transferred their corporate headquarters overseas to countries with lower corporate tax rates.
For the upcoming year on Capitol Hill, Capito said she would work to ensure continued funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program, which Congress recently voted to support only through March 2018. "I'm guaranteeing you CHIP will be reactivated for five years and funded," she said.
Capito also said she would keep working with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to find funding for mining pensions for several thousand West Virginia miners whose benefits are in jeopardy, keep pushing for broadband development in the state and push for a regional ethane storage hub to exploit the state's vast Marcellus and Utica shale gas reserves.