As is usual whenever Gov. Jim Justice speaks, we’re left with more questions than answers.
For about an hour Wednesday, Justice made grand statements about the current miraculous state of West Virginia and gave a very rosy outlook for the future, citing vague plans. We’re all for seeing the glass as half-full, but Justice’s optimistic hyperbole sometimes bordered on falsehood. Like that graphic he held up at the end, flipping West Virginia from No. 50 to No. 1.
Which leads us to our first question: What exactly are we “No. 1” in? Justice talked repeatedly about the “miracle” of West Virginia and how we’re no longer fighting Mississippi for last in everything. But according to U.S. News’ rankings, West Virginia is dead last in economy and infrastructure, 48th in health care, 44th in education and 41st in natural environment.
We’d believe it if Justice said we’re number one in vaccine distribution, but we still lag far behind most of the United States in the traditional benchmarks of a state’s success, which leads to our other questions.
Justice spent much of his State of the State Address pitching the repeal of the personal income tax. We’re willing to hear him out, but there was little substance to the evidence supporting why West Virginia can afford to do without it.
Repealing the income tax isn’t a tax cut — it’s a tax shift. The revenue has to be made up somewhere. Justice proposes increasing the sales tax by 1.5% (totaling 7.5% state sales tax and 8.5% in cities, like Morgantown, with a 1% sales tax), increasing taxes on tobacco and sugary drinks, upping the wealth tax and luxury tax and tiering coal and gas severance taxes. With the exception of the sales tax, Justice failed to give any numbers or examples that would put the proposed changes into perspective.
- To whom does the wealth tax apply? Theoretically the top-earners, but we know the uber-rich (think millions-plus) are extremely skilled at avoiding paying taxes, so who actually gets saddled with the extra taxes?
- To what does the luxury tax apply? Justice mentioned some large dollar amounts — like a big, one-time purchase — but luxury taxes usually apply to anything not considered a basic necessity. And in West Virginia — and most other states — feminine hygiene products aren’t considered necessities, which means they are subject to luxury taxes. So, in addition to shifting the tax burden to tobacco users and soda drinkers, will people who menstruate have to pick up the revenue slack?
- What gets cut from Justice’s proposed “flat budget” for the next three years? The new budget is $5 million less than the current budget, which means something (or more than one thing) gets cut or has funding vastly reduced.
And then there’s the buckets, though we’re particularly concerned about this second “rainy-day bucket.” Justice continues to brag about a surplus and now he wants to squirrel away even more. And yet, state-supported entities are chronically under-staffed and under-funded. West Virginia still ranks near or at the bottom in essential taxpayer-funded areas like infrastructure and education. Why would we sit on money when so many areas of our state still need investment?
We’re not outright rejecting Justice’s proposals, but there are a lot of questions that must be answered before we can consider giving him our support.
