Now for some good news from the states: Add Jim Justice to the list of exceptional Republican governors – the real talent pool of the GOP.

On Monday Justice released a plan to reduce the state income tax rate by 50% from 6.5% to 3.25%.

“My goal is to eliminate the state income altogether and get to a rate of zero,” the Governor tells us. Thanks to the gas and coal boom in West Virginia, the state has a hefty surplus. The Mountaineer State is rich with natural resources – from timber to shale gas – but what it lacks is… people. In the last two years though West Virginia has become a net out migration state.

In recent years, West Virginia has also adopted a right-to-work law and enacted a universal education savings account bill giving parents a $4,600 scholarship to send their child to the private school of their choice.

Ending the income tax would give WV the economic growth trifecta. Here is a list of the states with no income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. New Hampshire and Washington State only tax investment income.

Here is a photo at yesterday’s roundtable lunch with Governor Jim Justice and Stephen Moore, and our friend Grover Norquist from Americans for Tax Reform.