If you asked the majority of Kanawha County residents if they support funding ambulance service, public transportation, police and fire protection, they would say yes. I know this, because, in November of last year, we did just that. The Kanawha County Safety Levy passed with overwhelming support — 79% approval.
At the same time, if you asked citizens if they would like to eliminate the tax on their vehicles, you likely would receive a positive response, as well. The unfortunate truth that the West Virginia Legislature is quick to slide past voters is that, to fund services such as the ones mentioned above, property taxes are a necessary evil. You don’t get to have it both ways: eliminating funding sources while improving or maintaining government services.
It might be easy to distract voters in West Virginia with the promise of eliminating the tax on vehicles. Legislative leaders are not telling you that the vast majority of the proposed property tax cuts will go to large out-of-state corporations.
Eliminating the manufacturing machinery and equipment, and business inventory, taxes will create a massive budget shortfall in all 55 counties. County governments will have no choice but to add additional taxes. Who do you think will have to bear the burden of these new taxes? The everyday citizen and small-business owner, not the large corporations. It also is possible that real estate taxes could be increased exponentially to cover the shortfall, which would be a tremendous burden for folks on a fixed income.
To pull the curtain back even further, I spent five years in the West Virginia Development Office as a business-attraction representative. Over the course of those five years, I sat in on countless meetings with companies that were contemplating locating their businesses in West Virginia. One of our greatest tools in attracting companies to the Mountain State was West Virginia’s No. 10 rank by the Tax Foundation, in terms of property taxation. I can personally attest that those companies, including Fortune 500 members, who chose our state were most interested in our workforce potential, and not property and inventory taxes.
The same Legislature that is asking you for this handout enacted Payment in Lieu of Tax incentives (PILOT), to eliminate these taxes before companies even set foot in West Virginia (They can already do what they are asking you to help them do. Seems suspicious, right?)
The companies already in West Virginia are pushing to pass these tax breaks. The Legislature will promise to make counties and cities whole, even though it has not told the people of West Virginia how it plans on accomplishing this.
I believe local government is the best form of government. I talk to mayors and county commissioners almost daily. They understand the problems facing Kanawha County and their local communities. When an issue arises, we work through the problem and find a solution that’s best for the citizens of Kanawha County. If Amendment 2 passes, we will be at the mercy of individual legislators who, for the most part, do not live in our communities, do not understand our challenges and will not have the sense of urgency to solve complex issues, like a county commissioner or mayor would.
In the meantime, my team will continue to operate the largest public transportation authority in West Virginia. We will continue to transport over a million passengers a year over 2.1 million miles to work, medical appointments, grocery stores and school. We will be a quiet economic development engine for West Virginia. If our funding is severely reduced by Amendment 2 (a safety levy is only possible if it’s funding streams are viable), the citizens of West Virginia will face an even tougher challenge moving from place to place. Our bus passengers largely don’t own vehicles and will receive no benefit from the reduction of car property taxes. To the contrary, it will make their lives even more difficult.
In those closed-door, decision-making sessions with companies looking to locate in West Virginia, 100% of the time, the topics of public transportation, airports, roads, schools and emergency services came up. You literally cannot have it both ways, you can choose to empower the Legislature to give tax breaks to large corporations or fund the local services our communities rely on.
This November, the Legislature is betting that the public will not be informed enough to see through its power grab. Do not give its members the satisfaction of being right. Vote “NO†on Amendment 2, and preserve local funding for our critical public services.
Sean Hill is executive director of the Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority.
