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.
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.
posted by Laymansview | 7:44 AM
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