A billion dollars here and a billion dollars there, pretty soon we are taking big bucks.
Democrat Legislature members tell us the $2 billion surplus doesn’t really count because it is laced with all kinds of federal money, therefore we can’t count that when considering repealing the state income tax. Only a few days ago it was over $2 billion. Now some of that surplus has vanished and the new figure is $1.9 billion. Where did the $100 million go? Every dime of it is not federal money or state money. It is our money — the people who pay the taxes.
Over the years West Virginia has gained the reputation of taxing everything. We tax gasoline, the real estate we own, the sales tax we pay, the tax on cars we buy then pay more tax for every year we own them. There is a car inspection tax and a food tax we pay when we dine out. There is a used auto tire tax. West Virginia even taxes things that are not there such as minerals that have been mined or pumped out. Coal is taxed even if it has no commercial value. It’s called the baron tax, and it costs more annually to collect then the tax received (Delegate Don Perdue).
West Virginia spends too much of our money. State spending amounts to $10,334 per capita. The national average is $6,906. We are last in per capita income at $48,192. We have much more government then we can afford. No wonder our fellow West Virginians continue to be so poor.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has actually earned his keep in spades bring to our state nearly a billion dollars by taking big drug companies to court for their part in distributing large amounts of addictive drugs. Where is that money? Much of the settlement has been mortgaged to be paid over several years. OK, but by now should we not have some of that cash in the treasury? Morrisey has visions of running for another office. Heavens no! Make him attorney general AG for life. He’s the most valuable to us where he is.
Our governor wants to set aside $700 million of the $1.9 bill surplus as a backup for his drip-drip income tax repeal. No need to do that with West Virginia already holding nearly a billion dollar mortgage against the big drug companies an distributors.. Get on with “thinking big” and speed up the income tax repeal.
Instead of fiddling around doing 50% of the income tax, make it a KISS (Keep it simple, Stupid). No income tax on the first $80,000 of income.
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