In the past two weeks, the West Virginia Legislature has set about solving the most pressing issues facing state government: Who should get a break on their income taxes and by how much.
Meanwhile:
Few people outside of the public school system would say it is good, and no one says it’s even close to world-class.
Corrections officers are overworked and underpaid. Both lead to problems in recruitment and retention.
The Department of Health and Human Resources is a mess, and correcting the situation will be expensive.
And hospitals are in the first stages of pushing back against what they see as inadequate reimbursements from PEIA.
Tax cuts are good. Wages are stagnant, and inflation eats away at them every year — more so this year than any since the 1970s and 1980s. But are they really the most pressing issue facing legislators?
Rather than spend the early weeks of the session arguing over tax cuts, wouldn’t it make more sense to solve the problems listed above — and others — and then decide how much of a tax cut the state government can afford? Save the tax cuts for a special session, after the other problems are addressed, if need be.
The present strategy is backward and smells more of a feud between legislative leadership and Gov. Jim Justice over who controls the purse than an effort to bring about a just and equitable tax system.
Among the primary duties of state government are public safety and public education. People want tax cuts, but they also want effective schools, a safety net for neglected and abused children and protection from criminals. Good roads and functioning public infrastructure are necessary, too.
The present strategy of settling a feud with the governor and then taking care of other things is backward thinking.
In his first year in office, Justice lit the emergency beacon in the Capitol dome to signify his dissatisfaction with how legislators weren’t going along with his plans. Perhaps a member of the public should be allowed to light the beacon again, to alert fellow citizens to how feuding factions in the Capitol are neglecting their needs during this power struggle.
