Capito, Justice address WV Chamber Business Summit
August 29, 2025
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – The 89th annual West Virginia Chamber Business Summit is taking place this week at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs. And similar to year’s past, it has thus far been a veritable “who’s-who” of the state’s business leaders, elected officials, and dignitaries.
One such official, West Virginia’s Senior U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, spent her time at the podium on Thursday speaking about President Donald Trump’s recently passed “Big Beautiful Bill,” saying, “I want to talk about what the real tax implications are.”
“400,000 West Virginia seniors who are on Social Security are now going to get a $6,000 bonus deduction on their taxes, so it’s tax free,” Capito explained. “No taxes on tips – that’s about five-percent of our workforce here in West Virginia. No taxes on overtime.”
While the bill does allow qualifying tips and overtime to be deducted, those deductions are not without their limits. Under the new law, the maximum allowable deduction for qualifying tips is $25,000, and $12,500 for qualifying overtime.
“We make permanent a lot of the tax deductions that you all use in your small businesses,” Capito continued. “Whether it’s interest or flexibility for your capital expenses, we did the same thing in 2017 that we redid in this bill because those tax advantages have collapsed.”
“The biggest thing this bill does is prevent a $4 trillion raise in taxes on every single West Virginian,” Capito added. “Every single West Virginian is gonna have more money in their pocket because of the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill.’”
According to Capito, the bill also includes several “very family friendly” incentives, such as those designed to benefit childcare facilities.
“If we’re gonna have a workforce that’s full, we need to make sure that families can find a place to have their children have excellent care,” Capito noted.
Predictions surrounding the bill, Capito further noted, are that it will “not only help to grow the economy, but grow it fast.”
“I think this bill will be good for the state, good for individuals, and good for business,” Capito added.
Sharing Capito’s optimism was her junior colleague, Senator Jim Justice, who, while speaking after Capito, told those in attendance, “A strong West Virginia only becomes a strong West Virginia if you have strong business, and that’s all there is to it.”
“I want you to be really upbeat about who you are,” Justice continued. “There was an unbelievable lady that just spoke – our senior senator (Capito). Absolutely she’s doing an amazing job, and I’ll promise you, together, we’re bound at the hip with one another. And I’ll absolutely promise you that, on top of that, I’ll do the blocking [and] she’s got the ball.”
After acknowledging the long friendship he has shared with fellow Republican Capito, and speaking briefly of his recruitment as a senatorial-candidate by Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, Justice shifted his comments towards the opposition party.
“I really don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican,” Justice said. “At the end of the day, I want to be respectful to all. And while my views are extremely conservative compared to a lot of the Democrats, West Virginia Democrats are mostly good, hometown people.”
“The Democrats in D.C. are honestly looney tunes,” Justice added. “And if you think differently, you’re as crazy as you can possibly be.”
The 89th annual West Virginia Chamber Business Summit concludes on Friday.
Story by Matthew Young, RealWV