West Virginia Governor Releases Statement on Vehicle Tax Plan
Governor Jim Justice was taking a break on a calm Tuesday back in October from his statewide campaign against Amendment 2. The day before his break he was in Wyoming County, at Twin Falls Resort State Park imploring the audience to vote against the measure to cut some business taxes and personal property.
The next day, he went to Fairmont, which was the eleventh stop of his campaign. But on Tuesday, as Gov. Justice talked about a topic he had discussed numerous times and talked about it again in his live-streamed press, Justice had something new to give to people.
This time he said he wouldn’t just be rehashing his prior criticisms of how Amendment 2 ruined his plans to cut the state personal income tax, or how the proposal would give more power to the Charleston swamp he disliked so much. This time, he was offering an alternative solution to that problem.
Governor Jim Justice was taking a break on a calm Tuesday back in October from his statewide campaign against Amendment 2. (Photo: West Virginia Daily News)
Gov. Justice Going All In On His Vehicle Tax Plan
Gov. Justice said to the camera that the proponents of Amendment 2 claim that they must change their Constitution forever to eliminate the car tax. He added that not only is that false, but it’s also plain deceptive he said. It can be done, and they have the way right, without making a major amendment to their Constitution.
Two months have passed in the wake of the failure of Amendment 2, but the Governor is still trying to push his vehicle tax plan, arguing it’s the perfect way to provide immediate tax relief to West Virginians. But the actual result is more likely to be a convoluted process for the taxpayers and may not have as much of an impact as the Governor says so.
According to a published post by the West Virginia Daily News, many Republican legislators still do not publicly commit to backing up the Governor’s plan tax vehicle plan, although Justice sees it as a possible proposal that is an easy win, this could end up becoming more of a headache than he thought.
But Why Are Experts Skeptical Of This Plan
In discussing his tax proposal, Gov. Justice has asserted that idea of his is fairly easy and simple to execute. In his plan, the people will continue to pay their vehicle tax to counties, and the state government will then reimburse taxpayers for that amount completely.
This plan allows the state to effectively get rid of the tax while allowing counties to still collect the revenue they need. But if you take a closer look at the actual draft that was released by Justice, the office suggests that the entire plan may be a bit more difficult to execute than he has suggested.
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