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TABLER STATION, W.V. — Virginia’s shift toward higher taxes and new regulations is triggering an interstate economic “brawl,” as West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey moves to lure businesses and workers across the border.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has promoted an “affordability agenda,” but a wave of proposed tax increases and regulatory changes from legislative Democrats has opened an opportunity for neighboring states to compete for businesses and residents.
Even though some of these proposals never made it to Spanberger’s desk or claimed her signature, the political climate has prompted West Virginia officials to actively target Virginia’s workforce and employers, pitching lower taxes and fewer regulations as a competitive alternative.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Morrisey said he plans to take that pitch directly into Virginia communities, including Loudoun County, to draw businesses and workers into West Virginia.
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Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers a response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. (Steve Helber/Reuters)
“We’re going to be spending some time in Loudoun County and all across Virginia on making the pitch and the comparison of the direction that West Virginia is moving in [and] the direction Virginia is going in,” Morrisey told Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the announcement of a new 275-acre commercial tax district he said will bring $200 million in economic investment to the three-county Eastern Panhandle region.
“The backyard brawl for our state’s future is being won both at the kitchen table and in the marketplace,” Morrisey said, noting that the Tabler Station project he unveiled is just one of many similar plans-in-action around the state.
The area is home to West Virginia’s nationally-prevalent apple industry — to the point the local high school team is the “Musselman…
