Charleston, WV— West Virginia Freedom Caucus praises Governor Patrick Morrisey’s audit that found over $168 million in waste and urges him to suspend West Virginia’s fuel tax to provide immediate relief for struggling families facing rising fuel prices and inflation.
“This is a fantastic start,” said Freedom Caucus Chairman S. Chris Anders. “But the state government needs a deep DOGE style audit to find grift, fraud and abuse, that this surface level audit did not uncover,” Anders pointed out.
“This audit has found enough taxpayer money to offset the cost of an immediate 90-day suspension of all fuel taxes,” said Freedom Caucus Secretary Henry Dillon.
“This is a no-brainer,” said Freedom Caucus member Chris Rose.
With President Donald Trump’s public support of a suspension of the federal gas tax, the Freedom Caucus urges Morrisey to take immediate action.
“The West Virginia Freedom Caucus has been sounding the alarm on this issue for months,” said Freedom Caucus member Laura Kimble.
“Working people cannot continue to absorb skyrocketing fuel costs while government continues collecting more tax revenue at the pump, and waste $168 million of it,” said Freedom Caucus member Craig Hart.
West Virginia families rely heavily on vehicles for work, school, farming, and daily life.
Rising fuel costs hit rural states like West Virginia especially hard, increasing the cost of groceries, utilities, construction, and transportation across the board.
“We have more money being wasted, than the cost of immediate tax relief at the pump,” Rose said.
“West Virginians are already paying too much in taxes, utilities, and groceries,” Dillon pointed out.
“We need to provide relief for families and hardworking people who deserve a fair shake for their efforts,” he added.
“If Washington is discussing suspending the federal gas tax, West Virginia should already be leading the way at the state level.” Anders emphasized.
The West Virginia Freedom Caucus is calling on Governor Morrisey to:
1. Immediately suspend the state gasoline tax
2. Suspend the diesel tax to lower transportation and food costs
3. Return surplus taxpayer money back to citizens instead of growing government
4. Perform a DOGE style forensic audit of all state agencies to find waste, grift, fraud and abuse.
“The answer is not to squeeze taxpayers harder. The answer is to let people keep more of their own money,” Anders stressed.
The Freedom Caucus stated it remains committed to advancing real tax relief and will continue pushing policies that reduce the burden on West Virginia families.
