Mansion no good for Manchin

The Legislature convened in special session yesterday with four pieces of legislation to consider. They are:

HB-101 - A government reorganization bill which gives Governor Manchin greater authority in the hiring and firing selected agencies.

HB-102 - A bill to authorize using excess inaugural funds to enhance the Governor's mansion. This amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

HB-103, the Workers' Comp bill - The bill attempts to create some new funds from raising taxes and commandeers funds that were otherwise used elsewhere. The following is where the funds are to come from:

• $90.2 Million from severance tax increases (already overtaxed industries that are taxed at rates higher than any other state in the area).

• $45.0 Million from Workers Comp Surcharge (coal industry gets a rate decrease, then ad a surcharge for everyone else to pay to offset it).

• $30 Million from the tobacco settlement (money is used for many programs that will not longer be funded).

• $45 Million from lottery excess funds (this is where matching funds come from for water and sewer projects. This will all but eliminate infrastructure growth and construction jobs).

• $20 Million from Racetracks (reduce payouts - racetracks are going to eat this cost).

HB-10 Ethics Bill. (badly needed)

This is a special session and the Governor wants more money, more power and authority and better living conditions. The Mansion no good for Manchin.

The legislature goes into special session tomorrow without first being given a plan from the Governor. Although the administration claims to have a plan, it has not been widely available to legislators. This comprehensive plan is being sold by the Governor has not been seen by many, maybe none of our legislators. We do not know if he has enough support to carry through.

Why would the Governor call into special secession, a legislature that has no idea, other than what has been talked about in the press, what he intends to do about raising more than $200 million every year for the next 20 years. Where is the money coming from to fund this grand adventure. It will come from the people of West Virginia and the companies that employ them.

I wonder how much the company I work for could afford to pay me if it were not so over taxed. If it did not have to pay more tax than companies in other state just across the West Virginia border.

We the people of West Virginia, need to soon realize that our employers are being squeezed. They would have us believe the tax structure has nothing to do with the fact that companies are leaving and new one will not come.

We all want more just like everyone else, but we don't want it from the state. Nor do we want to state taxing our employer to the brink of extinction.

The Administration Is Twisting Arms.

It seems the new Governor is going to raise taxes after all. He and some legislators are going to attempt to advance sweeping tax increases on certain industries all the while telling the people that they are going to fix the States financial problems without a contribution from the people of West Virginia. They refuse to address the issues that have put this state in the condition that it is in financially. Instead of addressing the source of the problems, they will simple to create a means to bring in more money to the state. Create new and raise current taxes.

They think the people are too stupid or ignorant to realize that any tax increase will be paid for by the people of West Virginia although not necessarily directly. Their plan is to raise taxes on hospitals, energy and even create a new taxes on certain services that currently are not taxed. They want to raise taxes on utilities. They are correct in telling us that this effort will raise additional money for the State. However, taxing our way out of trouble will only create more financial problems for the state in the future. When the State raises taxes on hospitals, energy and services, the people who pay for healthcare, energy, and utilities are the ones paying the tax.

So, they will attempt to deceive us into believing that they are going to raise an additional $220-250 million dollars a year and the people of West Virginia are not going to be the ones who pay for it. Not true. Every industry affected by this will simply add it to their cost of doing business and the people who use their services will pay for the tax increase. If they are unable to pass the cost through, then they will have to absorb it, which means they will have to raise there prices to offset it. Or, they simply will make not further investments in West Virginia.

In addition to the financial risk to the people, increased taxes will create a significant risk of discouraging investment in the areas where capital dollars are needed to create jobs, sustain the jobs we have and encourage investment in infrastructure.

The additional revenue raised by virtue of the tax increase is to be used to borrow even more money to pay for liabilities that are not even due yet. They are merely projected future unfunded liabilities. A very large portion of that unfunded liability is used to pay private attorneys who have abused the system and helped to create the unfunded liability to start with. The bonds they intent to float will carry a heavy interest burden and will bind the people of West Virginia for 20 years to the debt created by this bond fund.

There are no easy answers. We do need to address the problems, but we need to address the cause first. The cause is simple. State government has simply spent more money than it brings in or it has allowed various state agencies to create liabilities that its cash flow could never support.

What can we do? Let your legislative representatives know that they should spend there time and energy on fixing the problems not on figuring out ways to get the people of West Virginia to pay more money for the problems created by them. Make them fix the problem. Start with getting our legal system under control. We should start checking to make sure that those who receive benefits from the state actually deserve them.

Get involved and do not believe you are not the one who will ultimately pay for the tax increases.

WV's New Governor asked a tough question, he should know the answer

West Virginia's new Governor asked the people "what have you done for your state"? He should know the answer to that question. What he should have asked is: "what has the state done with the resources provided to it by the people"?

The people of West Virginia and the companies that employ them are among the highest taxed in the region, purhaps the nation. The people and their employers have already done their part. Waste, corruption, cronyism, incompetence and a legal system out of control have squandered what should have been ample financial resources for West Virginia to function and even flourish.

Now is a critical time for West Virginia. Gov. Manchin blames stagnant growth and lost opportunity on the workers compensation and teachers retirement deficits. He claims these elements as being the greatest detriment to West Virginia recovering from its financial woes, when in fact, they are nothing more than symptoms of waste, corruption, cronyism, incompetence and a legal system out of control.

I suggest the most significant issue limiting prosperity in West Virginia is the states legal system. The Governor may not address this issue because trial lawyers from around the state contributed enormous amount of money to his elections campaign. No matter what course of action taken to improve the prosperity for West Virginia’s people, unless significant legal reform takes place, no citizen will benefit from the changes except lawyers.

Now is the time for West Virginian’s to speak out and let their legislators know that we think this issue should be dealt with during the 2005 Legislative Session. Workers Comp is not suffering because not enough money is flowing into it. It suffers because too much money is paid to fraudulent claimants and their lawyers. It really is that simple and what is happening puts in jeopardy the legitimate claimant who actually deserves the protection workers compensation is supposed to provide.

We must speak out.

PD Notrah