Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli pledged on Tuesday to work to lower state income taxes for individuals in Virginia if elected governor this year.
Appearing at a local Richmond business to unveil what his campaign called its first major policy initiative of the campaign, Cuccinelli called for reducing the individual income tax rate from 5.75 percent to 5 percent over four years, starting in 2014.
His Economic Growth & Virginia Jobs Plan, which was revealed at a press conference at a Richmond business, also includes lowering the corporate income tax from 6 percent to 4 percent.
Cuccinelli – the state’s attorney general – also proposed establishing what he calls a “Small Business Tax Relief Commission.” It would be tasked, his campaign said, with reducing the personal income tax and the corporate income tax while also identifying and eliminating “outdated exemptions and loopholes that promote crony capitalism.”
The commission, which would launch in December, would also have the goal of eliminating or reducing “the harmful effects of the Business Professional Occupational License (BPOL) Tax, the Machine and Tool (M&T) Tax, and the Merchants Capital (MC) Tax, while maintaining local government revenue.”
Cuccinelli is running against former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe.