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Nonsense: Gov. Justice makes no sense on park fee

Before the idea could get off the ground, Gov. Jim Justice has put a stop to a pilot program that would have charged a very small entrance fee for seven West Virginia state parks or forests. His reason for doing so is jaw-dropping:

“West Virginians are struggling and at this time there is no way I can go along with charging a fee to enjoy our state parks,” Justice said.

You read that correctly. This man hoped to raise the consumer sales tax to 6.25 percent; to bring back sales tax on many professional services; to increase the beer and liquor taxes; to raise turnpike tolls to $4; to raise DMV fees to $50; to increase the gasoline tax by 4.5 cents and implement a commercial activities tax. But he believes Mountain State residents are so financially strapped they cannot afford $2 when they voluntarily visit one of our state parks (or $12 for an annual vehicle pass).

Which is it governor?

Perhaps Justice understands what his own attempt to wring more money out of West Virginians — by taxing necessities and requirements –would do to folks who truly are working hard just to make ends meet. Maybe he believes implementing all of his own planned tax and fee increases might, indeed, mean more families would find it harder to part with $2 for a weekend visit to Blackwater Falls or Coopers Rock.

So he struck down the idea the Division of Natural Resources estimates would have brought in $1 million for park maintenance, and hoped it would seem as though he is looking out for the little guy. Perhaps it has not occurred to him our state parks will be in even greater need of money for maintenance if they are inundated with visitors who were rendered unable to travel much farther after all those tax and fee increases.

If gasoline costs an extra 4.5 cents per gallon, turnpike tolls are raised, etc., it is certainly cheaper to drive to Pipestem than to Myrtle Beach.

Justice called the $2 entry fee a mistake. But he has no problem trying to squeeze hundreds of millions more per year out of Mountain State residents, so long as that money serves his purposes, rather than helping to keep our incredible state parks and forests enjoyable and accessible for everyone.

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