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Budget: Lawmakers should consider changes

Gov. Jim Justice and West Virginia lawmakers are preparing for a legislative session in which one of their highest priorities will be coping with a budget shortfall expected to be hundreds of millions of dollars. Some indications suggest Justice plans to recommend state spending cuts of between $390 million and $600 million a year, which, if accomplished, might fill the budget gap projected for fiscal 2018.

Meanwhile, as the governor and lawmakers such as state Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, plead the case for those deep spending cuts — including the elimination of fraud, waste and an absurdly bloated bureaucracy — others in Charleston are looking for ways to increase revenue by increasing taxes. The rather veiled term for doing this is “diversifying the tax base” by eliminating all exemptions to the state sales tax.

Doing so would, according to some projections, bring in several times more than what is required to balance the budget. It would also hurt working families and job-providing businesses. These exemptions are items such as the sales tax on food that affect families, and a host of others that affect businesses big and small, which were implemented for a reason. Making a blanket decision to eliminate them all would be an irresponsible blow to families and employers already struggling in the Mountain State’s economy.

Surely lawmakers do not intend their efforts to increase revenue streams with raised taxes to be job-killers.

Meanwhile, one lawmaker told members of the press gathered in Charleston last week that as much as two-thirds of state spending is required by law. Employers and families in the sights of those hoping to “diversify the tax base” can see quite clearly what the lawmakers are hoping to avoid.

If two-thirds of state spending is required by the law, then changes to that law are in order.

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