By ANDREW BROWN
Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gov. Jim Justice delivered his first State of the State address Wednesday, and his calls to raise numerous taxes to fill a $500 million budget hole and pay for government services has left Republican lawmakers critical of the state’s new leader.
Throughout his campaign, Justice would neither commit to raising taxes or cutting state spending. But more recently, Justice’s chief of staff, Nick Casey, suggested the governor’s office might seek $390 million to $606 million in cuts — something Republicans heavily supported.
Those plans were dashed during Justice’s lengthy speech, however, as he called for increases in the state’s sales tax, car registration fees, business taxes and the state’s gas tax.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, said he was “incredibly disappointed” in Justice’s policy reversal and support for a wide array of tax increases.
“It wasn’t the expectation of the voters throughout the campaign process,” Carmichael said, after listening to Justice’s speech that featured the governor repeatedly using a whiteboard to scrawl out numbers.
Carmichael, who recently replaced Justice’s general election opponent Bill Cole as senate leader, said Justice was pushing the same “tired, worn out approach,” and that one of the poorest states in the country couldn’t handle new taxes.
(Photo by Sam Owens)
Justice put forth a litany of plans that some Republican legislators, like Del. Eric Householder and Del. Gary Howell, believe are largely unattainable or won’t receive support in the Republican-led House and Senate.
“It was a lot of lofty goals,” Householder said, adding that it didn’t mesh with Republican plans to “right-size government.”
Householder and Howell, who both represent the Eastern Panhandle, said they also didn’t agree with Justice’s suggestion to raise the price of state tolls by $1 and to have state residents pay a one-time $8 fee instead of being taxed on the turnpike.
Howell said he has likely only been on the turnpike that runs from Charleston to Princeton a handful of times.
Many in the state’s Republican party have suggested they would like to cut government as far as possible before even considering tax increases, but it has yet to be seen what programs and agencies they could agree to get rid of and whether that would actually make up the estimated $500 million shortfall for next year.
Not all Democratic lawmakers were completely pleased with Justice’s speech either, including the governor’s call to completely get rid of the state’s income tax.
Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, one of the state’s more liberal lawmakers who represents Charleston’s West Side and East End, said he would have to learn more about how removing the state income tax would impact his constituents.
Pushkin said he’s concerned that removing the income tax and adding to the sales tax will put more of the tax burden on lower income families and communities in the state, but he added that he would listen to his voters to see if they approve of such a plan.
One broad topic area that Pushkin and Justice completely agree on, he said, was the importance of education as a keystone to improving the state’s prospects. During his address, Justice called for going away from the current school grading standards and advocated for a pay raise for teachers.
While most Republicans were displeased with Justice’s overarching outlook on tax increases, Mike Hall, R-Putnam, the Senate Finance Chair, said they would be working quickly to review the budget proposal.
Hall said he somewhat expected the sales tax proposal, but some of Justice’s other plans were a surprise to him.
“Obviously, he’s trying to find revenue to fund highways, and the public can weigh in,” Hall said.
Carmichael, who will be at the forefront of negotiating with the governor’s office, said there could be some overlap between Republican goals and Justice’s proposals.
Removing the state income tax and replacing it with a higher sales tax could be something that both sides agree on, Carmichael said.
“That’s where we can find some common ground,” Carmichael said.
See more from the Charleston Gazette-Mail