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House Finance Committee chair says Justice tax cut should be considered – WV MetroNews

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House Finance Committee chair says Justice tax cut should be considered – WV MetroNews

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — House Finance Committee Chairman Vernon Criss says state lawmakers should consider a tax cut proposal by Gov. Jim Justice before a new administration takes over.

Vernon Criss

“I think it’s prudent to do it now. I do, along with the other things of the surplus dollars that we have left over that we need to take a look at,” Criss (R-Wood) said on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline.”

Justice announced earlier this month he wants to follow up an automatic reduction in the personal income tax with another 5% on top of that.

Senate Finance Chairman Eric Tarr (R-Putnam) came out against the proposed cut and said doing so could get the state out of balance with other tax cuts already going into place alongside the state’s projected expense obligations.

Criss said the reduction is worth exploring.

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“I still think giving back the people their money so they can do what they want to do with it actually increases the economy and will boost revenues down the road,” Criss said.

Even with the changes to the automatic reduction and the governor’s tax cut, Criss said the state income tax in West Virginia still won’t be competitive enough with neighboring states. He said he knows what that’s like as a representative of an area that borders Ohio.

“We’re going to be at 4.5% so we’re still outside the range in our market conditions for our employees to be able to be competitive with somebody from the living conditions in West Virginia versus Ohio, especially in our area,” he said.

Criss added it’s important to be smart about this and not let history repeat itself.

“I want to make sure that we do not invade any cash-flow problems and to be able to pay our bills because I was there in the late 80s and early 90s when we couldn’t pay the electric bill,” he said.

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Tarr previously said another 5 percent equals about $100 million. That’s on top of a tax cut automatically triggered by economic indicators of 3% or 4% for this coming year, amounting to about $90 million. He said lawmakers also agreed to phase out the state income tax on Social Security benefits, equating to about $10 million this year.

The most recent fiscal year resulted in revenue of $826 million above the estimate set annually by the governor. The difference came as the state instituted a 21.25% personal income tax cut this year.

Justice plans to call lawmakers in for a special session in August.

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Finance

Low-income Chinese girl aces gaokao, inspires live-streamers offering help

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Low-income Chinese girl aces gaokao, inspires live-streamers offering help

A girl from a disadvantaged rural family in central China topped this year’s gaokao, attracting numerous live-streamers eager to finance her education, which she declined.

The home of 18-year-old secondary school graduate Han Yaping in a Henan province village was recently bustling with live-streamers.

This attention came after Han achieved an impressive score of 699 out of 750 in the gaokao, China’s national college entrance exam.

She has received offers from China’s two leading universities, Tsinghua University and Peking University.

Han’s accomplishment is particularly remarkable given her family’s impoverished circumstances.

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Her mother suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, an inflammatory arthritis affecting the spine, preventing her from working. Her father, who earns a living through farming and odd jobs, serves as the family’s sole provider. Han also has a younger sister.

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Finance

UK financial regulator publishes landmark AI review

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UK financial regulator publishes landmark AI review

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a landmark review on Monday that proposes recommendations to regulate the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the financial decisions made by consumers.

The review, titled the Mills Review, anticipates that both consumers and firms will start delegating “more financial decision-making to AI systems,” including for agreements, initiating transactions, and executing decisions “within agreed parameters.” One of the key findings of the review outlined that while AI can help bridge advice gaps and “support growth,” there remain risks “associated with fraud, cyber security, and consumer harm.” Conducting the review, Sheldon Mills highlighted that “AI can also amplify risks: bias, discrimination, exclusion, opaque decision-making (particularly when multiple AI models interact), misleading or hallucinatory advice and erosion of consumer trust.”

The review stated that presently, one in five adults in the UK are “already open to AI making decisions for them,” particularly when decisions feel “complex or high stakes.” It found that roughly 26 percent of the population “trust general-purpose tools such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini for financial advice” with little awareness that such platforms provide no “formal routes to recourse” or protections.

Overall, the Mills Review identified four areas that it anticipates will be impacted by AI in the financial sector: “the transformation of firms,” “new consumer journeys,” “a reshaped competition landscape,” and “amplified financial crime and cyber risk.” The FCA projected the shift in how consumers and firms consult AI to take place by 2030.

The Mills Review put forth seven “priority” recommendations to be considered by the FCA Board. It recommended that any transitions to autonomous AI models be monitored and that regulatory frameworks and perimeters be adapted and secured. The review called for the strengthening of “system-wide coordination and oversight,” the scaling up of the FCA’s AI Lab to enable it to support AI models and innovation for agentic finance, and an “AI-enabled agentic supervisory model” to be built and adopted.   Finally, it recommended that a trusted “public-interest AI-enabled financial capability service” be developed.

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The FCA announced, in the press release, that it will launch an AI “good and poor practice publication” in late 2026.

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Finance

Fayette County Public Schools Board of Education approves audit contract, new finance director position

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Fayette County Public Schools Board of Education approves audit contract, new finance director position

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – The Fayette County Public Schools Board of Education approved a one-year audit contract capped at $131,750 plus $225 per hour during a virtual meeting Monday, along with a new finance director job description.

The contract is with Mauldin & Jenkins Certified Public Accountants, an Atlanta-based firm, and covers the 2025-26 fiscal year and the restatement of the 2024-25 fiscal year and ancillary services through FY 2029-2030. The work is set to be completed by Nov. 15.

The board approved the contract in a 5-0 vote.

Audit contract details

Interim Chief Financial Officer Kyna Koch said the cost is already accounted for in the district’s budget.

“And is actually less than we expected given our current situation — we were thrilled with the bid,” Koch said.

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Koch said she believes this is Mauldin & Jenkins’ first school district audit in Kentucky, but that the firm works with school districts of more than 100,000 students throughout the Southeast.

“Quite frankly when I spoke to the folks at KDE they were thrilled because we’re running kind of short of auditors who want to do school district audits — so all around I think this was a win-win for everyone,” Koch said.

New finance director position

The board also approved a new job description for the position of Director of Finance. Acting Superintendent Dr. Bill Bradford said the title will replace two associate director positions.

“Which will not only save the school district money but it’s also going to streamline our work and align internal controls to make room for a more efficient unit,” Bradford said.

Koch said the position will be posted as soon as possible following the board’s approval.

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Closed session

The board went into closed session for more than an hour to discuss pending investigations that could lead to employee discipline. When the board returned, it took no action and adjourned the meeting.

Copyright 2026 WKYT. All rights reserved.

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