Just when we thought we were done talking about unpaid taxes and debts owed by U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., and Justice family businesses, a slew of news reports pulled us back in again.
There was a time when owing unpaid taxes would have been the end of one’s political aspirations, but evidently, that time is long past.
Voters knew about Justice’s difficulties paying taxes and other debts, and yet still reelected him governor and elected him to the U.S. Senate.
I keep wondering if there is a breaking point, and whether that point is the news that the IRS filed tax liens against Jim and Cathy Justice for some $8 million in unpaid income taxes for tax years 2009, 2017 and 2022.
We don’t know if there are additional liens pending for any other unpaid income taxes.
However, I think we can appreciate the irony that when then-Gov. Justice was pushing to lower and eventually eliminate state income taxes, he was delinquent in paying his own income taxes.
One would think the Trump administration's Internal Revenue Service would bend over backwards to accommodate a Republican U.S. senator. Having to go to the nuclear option of filing tax liens suggests they were not able to reach a more amiable solution.
Remarkably, during a rare news conference Thursday (albeit a virtual version), Justice told reporters he believes the liens are politically motivated.
News of the IRS liens came days after the Gazette-Mail’s Mike Tony reported that Justice family businesses owe $855,932 in delinquent property taxes on properties in Greenbrier County, primarily Greenbrier resort cottages and Sporting Club properties, and that some 400 Justice-owned parcels at the Glade Springs resort in Raleigh County were set for a foreclosure auction, until the state Supreme Court granted a stay postponing the sale.
The nonpayment of income and property taxes is bad. But the reality is, if you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money. Much worse — in my opinion — are tax liens for unremitted sales taxes from The Greenbrier.
Those taxes were collected from resort guests, but were diverted to parts unknown. At one point, The Greenbrier’s sales tax liens approached $3.5 million for seven months of unremitted taxes in 2023, although those liens have since been withdrawn.
Withdrawal of a lien doesn’t necessarily mean that the taxes were paid. Liens can be withdrawn when doing so is determined to be in the best interest of the taxpayer and the government. There may be cases where it is better to allow an entity to remain in business and to continue providing jobs and generating income than to enforce a lien that would put the company out of business.
All but one of the lien withdrawals occurred when Justice was still governor, and all but two were withdrawn prior to the November 2024 general election.
Making matters worse, last month the state filed three new liens against The Greenbrier for failure to remit sales taxes for this April, May and June, with unpaid taxes, interest and penalties totaling $1.306 million.
Again, this isn’t a case of not having enough money to pay one’s tax bills. This is money collected but never sent on to the state, as state law requires.
Having now occurred in 10 different months over the course of nearly three years, the failure to remit sales taxes doesn't seem to be an accident, omission, or oversight.
Under West Virginia Code 11-9-5, willful failure to remit collected sales taxes in excess of $1,000 is a felony punishable by fines of $5,000 to $25,000, and/or one to three years in prison.
Additionally, establishments that are licensed to serve beer, wine and liquor can have their liquor licenses suspended or revoked for failing to remit sales taxes, and the law stipulates there is no grace period for unpaid taxes.
Presumably, a portion of The Greenbrier’s unremitted taxes were from the sale of adult beverages.
One wonders how Kanawha or Greenbrier county prosecutors and the Alcohol Beverage Control Administration would have reacted had these transgressions been committed by a Joe Blow, and not a Jim Justice.
I’m sure Justice will say, in 2017, he turned day-to-day operations of The Greenbrier over to his son and daughter Jay and Jill, and was unaware of the latest issue with unremitted taxes. However, throughout his eight years as governor, Justice always seemed up to speed with precisely what was going on in his many private businesses. That’s probably why he never put his assets into a blind trust, as his predecessors did, and why he refused to live in the governor’s mansion, perhaps avoiding ethical questions by conducting private business in his own home, and not a state government building.
These latest revelations regarding unpaid taxes also put in new perspective Justice’s decision to spend thousands of dollars per round-trip to commute to Washington from Lewisburg via private jet.
Under the circumstances, it’s galling that Justice — who during the 2024 campaign bristled at questions about his financial woes, and assured voters that all those problems had been resolved, claiming “all’s good in the neighborhoodâ€Â — has mostly stonewalled reporters seeking comment on the latest liens and nonpayment. Spokespersons both in his Senate office and his business interests have continually refused to respond.
The media and the public should demand answers.
Donald Trump showed his complete and utter contempt for the American people — or, more precisely, the majority of Americans who are not MAGA — in three ways last week.
First is his total lack of interest in doing anything to resolve the extended government shutdown other than threaten to use it as a pretext to eliminate what he calls “Democrat†programs, which we presume includes programs and services that benefit many Americans.
He has refused to even meet with Senate Democrats who are key to resolving the shutdown to discuss their demands to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies and to roll back draconian cuts to Medicaid in Trump’s Big Ugly Bill.
Meanwhile, more and more Americans will suffer the longer the shutdown drags on.
Second, he responded to seven million Americans peacefully protesting his policies and actions last Saturday by vulgarly and childishly posting an AI-generated video depicting himself as a fighter pilot dropping tons of excrement on the protestors. Imagine the outrage had Barack Obama or Joe Biden degraded the office of the president in such a manner.
Trump, who has an uncanny ability to completely distort reality, dismissed the more than 2,600 No Kings rallies across the country as being “very small, very ineffective.â€
It’s notable how prominent Republicans went from calling No Kings “hate rallies†that were likely to turn violent beforehand to declaring them afterward to be silly, frivolous and largely populated by white Baby Boomers.
I was at the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä rally, and can attest the crowd ran the gamut from teens and young families to — as Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, recognized — 90-somethings.
Third, Trump oversaw the desecration of the most iconic building in the country with the demolition of the East Wing of the White House to make way for his gaudy and oversized ballroom, even though Congress and the federal commission that must approve such construction has yet to see plans for the project, let alone authorize it. Trump previously lied, saying the ballroom project would not touch — let alone destroy — any portion of the White House.
Trump’s cavalier attitude in obliterating part of the people’s house without any authorization reminded me of how then-Gov. Justice and then-Arts, Culture and History Secretary Randall Reid-Smith bypassed the Capitol Building Commission and ignored state purchasing and Open Meetings laws in order to foist inferior quality murals onto the Capitol rotunda.
I understand a resolution is near at hand for the lawsuit alleging Justice and Reid-Smith acted illegally in installing the murals without the required approval of the CBC, and without consulting with artisans, historians and other experts on the mural design and content.
Both Trump and Justice think they are above the law, so they need not follow the law.
Nearly as disappointing as the demolition of the East Wing has been the Republican response to the desecration.
As far as I can determine, no members of the state congressional delegation, or Gov. Patrick Morrisey, or legislative leaders have said a word about the destruction.
Republicans who have dared comment have either dismissed the East Wing as insignificant office space or resorted to whataboutism: Obama repurposed a tennis court for basketball, a minor project some Republicans absurdly claim cost $400 million; Harry Truman gutted and rebuilt the entire interior of the White House.
The latter is true, but only because the original circa-1790s construction had deteriorated to the point that there were fears that portions of the upper floor could collapse. Also, both presidents went through the proper legal channels to get authorization for the projects.
Contempt for citizenry and for the rule of law are qualities one would expect to find in a king, or an autocrat.
