In his campaign for an open U.S. Senate seat, Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., is trying to portray Republican Gov. Jim Justice, his rival for the Republican nomination, as out of step with West Virginia’s conservative voters. One recent attack concerned taxes.
In a Nov. 2 post on X, formerly Twitter, Mooney said that Justice “broke his pledge, raised the gas tax, and pushed for the largest tax increase in West Virginia’s history.”
Here, we’ll look at whether Justice broke his pledge by raising the gasoline tax. We found it misleading.
Justice’s campaign did not respond to inquiries for this article.
In the post, Mooney linked to a June 2017 article by The Herald-Dispatch newspaper in Huntington, West Virginia, that reported on how Justice pushed for and signed Senate Bill 1006, which raised gasoline taxes, a tax on car purchases, and certain motor vehicle registration fees. The proceeds were earmarked for highway funding, which Justice applauded as creating jobs and improving infrastructure.
The bill raised the car-buying tax from 5% to 6%; hiked fees on titles, registration and inspection stickers; and increased gasoline taxes by about 3.5 cents per gallon, The Herald-Dispatch reported. The measure also raised registration fees for hybrid and electric vehicles, to help cover the shortfalls in road funding for electric vehicles not paying gasoline taxes.
But did this break his pledge? No.
The pledge, which has been promoted for years by the anti-tax group Americans for Tax Reform, says,”I pledge to the taxpayers of the state of (state) I will oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.”
Justice signed the pledge in February 2023, almost six years after he signed the tax and fee increases. Justice couldn’t have broken a pledge he hadn’t signed yet.
Mooney’s team accused Justice of hypocrisy by taking a pledge he hadn’t lived up to in the past.
However, Mooney’s critique also ignored a $754 million tax cut Justice signed in March 2023 that was widely described as the largest tax cut in West Virginia history. The main provision cuts state personal income tax rates by 21.25% in all tax brackets. This move was the polar opposite of a tax increase.
Our ruling
Mooney said Justice “broke his pledge, raised the gas tax.”
Justice signed an increase in gasoline taxes and other motor vehicle taxes and fees. But he signed the gasoline tax bill in 2017, about six years before he signed the taxpayer protection pledge; he couldn’t have broken a pledge he hadn’t signed yet.
The attack also ignores that Justice signed an income tax cut in 2023 that was widely described as the largest tax cut in West Virginia history.
We rate the statement False.
