MOUNDSVILLE — With two weeks until the Nov. 8 general election, Gov. Jim Justice spoke before a small crowd in Marshall County against Amendment 2, which he described as “backwards” for the people of the Mountain State.

He also believes that his statewide tour warning people about the risks of that amendment is making a difference in the way people think about it.

In the 19th stop on his statewide tour against Amendment 2, Justice and Dave Hardy, cabinet secretary of the state Department of Revenue, spoke at the Marshall County Courthouse in Moundsville to stump against the proposed tax amendment. Amendment 2 would provide the Legislature with the authority to exempt tangible machinery and equipment used in business activity, as well as the personal property tax on motor vehicles paid by individuals. It also would give the Legislature spending control over 27% of all property taxes collected.

Following his speech, Justice said he was confident that much of the public supports his campaign against Amendment 2.

While the crowds at some of the events have consisted more of elected officials, a lack of opposition to his speeches indicates to Justice that he’s representing the public.

“A lot of the elected officials who were supporting this in the beginning, they came out to almost run me away, and now you don’t see them — they don’t show up to anything, because now they know the people are mad,” he said. “We opened this up to anybody and everybody. People could have come in here and been really critical.

“I have seen this over and over and over — not 80% of the people, but 100% have said, ‘We didn’t know anything about this. We don’t want to do this, what are we about to do to ourselves?’ … Hundreds of people have said, ‘We didn’t know this wasn’t about a car tax, we had no idea this could influence our counties, give Charleston all this control.’ Hundreds have said exactly just that.”

In his speech Tuesday morning, Justice said that talking points in favor of the amendment – such as that Amendment 2 would restructure taxes to be more beneficial to out-of-state businesses and industries that would otherwise be put off from investing in the state – miss the mark by a mile.

“National, gigantic companies are all looking at West Virginia,” Justice said. “… Not one company has ever (told) me, ‘We’ll come if you get rid of the business and industry tax.’ Not one, and they’re coming.”

Justice said that, as a businessman and industrialist himself, he’s very well acquainted with the lines of thinking that lead businesses to set up shop in West Virginia. Yet he added that the state must prioritize residents above the growth of the state — in this case, by keeping property taxes controlled by local county and municipal governments.

“Right now, it’s backwards – first and foremost what we should be doing is helping our people, and secondarily what we should be doing is trying to think of a way to grow our people,” he said.

Justice discussed his proposed legislation, the Car and All Vehicles Tax Elimination and Protection of Local Government Act, which would use state funds to issue a rebate of vehicle taxes paid to counties. He said that another of the main draws of Amendment 2 is the possibility of the Legislature removing vehicle taxes from residents, and that his bill would provide leverage to ensure that West Virginians get that relief without seeing a vote either way.

“The bill basically is saying just this: we will rebate you back, through the general revenue, dollar-for-dollar, cent-for-cent, immediately,” Justice said. “They can say, ‘It’ll take forever, there’s red tape’ – it’s garbage. We will do that immediately, right back to you, boom. As soon as you pay the car tax, the tax will go to this county, and it’ll pay these people. The general revenue will send you that money right back, boom.”

Justice hoped his bill would give voters the freedom to have the freedom to vote on Amendment 2 without feeling as if they’re choosing between a tax break and funding for local services.

“But now the car tax is gone. Now, if (Amendment 2) blows up – and I think it’s going to blow up – and my bill goes through the Legislature, they aren’t suicidal. They’ll try to hoodwink you in this. … The car tax thing is gone, take it off the table. Here’s your decision: do you want to vote for Amendment 2, which is about changing the constitution? It’s not about a car tax, that was something to steal your vote.”

Local elected officials in Marshall County have repeatedly spoken against Amendment 2, saying that services at the city and county level – from street sweeping to emergency services – will almost certainly be reduced in scope or eliminated if Amendment 2 passes, depriving local agencies of tax revenue. Published reports state that Amendment 2 could see $21 million less going to the Marshall County Board of Education, $12 million less for the county’s government, and $2 million less across the county’s municipalities.

Statewide, Amendment 2 would see a diversion of $515 million of property tax revenue, or 27% of total property tax revenue in the state, according to a statement by the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

At a town hall meeting last week, Marshall County Commissioner Mike Ferro presented figures from a survey of county commissioners, showing that Amendment 2 is widely opposed throughout the state from all political parties.

Justice’s Tuesday tour wasn’t finished at the Moundsville stop. He and Hardy also visited the Brooke County Commission on Aging in Follansbee to speak out against the amendment.