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Shake It Up: Tax hikes are not the way to balance budget

West Virginia lawmakers looking for a way to dig themselves out of the hole created by decades of tax-and-spend irresponsibility are finding it difficult to resist the temptation to do precisely what voters believed they would avoid. Rather than shake up the status quo, some of these folks are in danger of falling back to more of the same — pretending it is possible to balance the budget on the backs of those who simply cannot carry any more.

Democratic Gov. Jim Justice had no problem throwing away his campaign assurances that he understood Mountain State residents are already being taxed nearly to death. He presenting a budget that relies on the barest of spending cuts and an increase in taxes that would cost the average family of four more than $1,300 a year. The surprise has been the majority Republican Legislature, which may be poised to respond with slightly deeper cuts, but a tax increase that would be just as devastating — maybe more so.

Do not be fooled by the repackaged language used by a few who would like to impose hundreds of millions of dollars worth of new sales taxes on West Virginians by disguising them as a repeal of sales tax exemptions. Just a few of the many exemptions affected would be: prescription drugs, home improvements made by contractors, many salon services, day care, professional services such as attorneys or physicians, textbooks, and the advertising on which many job providers depend to keep their businesses alive.

An extra 6 percent — 7 percent in cities with their own sales taxes, such as Williamstown, Vienna and Parkersburg — could be crippling for small businesses and the families that depend on them, not just for goods and services, but for jobs. Do not forget, Justice is also asking for a half-a-cent increase on sales taxes. Should lawmakers grant that wish as well, most Mid-Ohio Valley residents would be scrambling to pay an additional 7.5 percent on the economy-fueling goods and services currently protected by sales tax exemptions.

A blanket repeal of all sales tax exemptions is a terrible idea, and one that smacks of giving up. That is a shame, for a group of lawmakers who have swept into Charleston over the past two years with such determination and promise. It is time, ladies and gentlemen, to make some difficult decisions and find a better way.

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