The history of West Virginia’s previous efforts to overhaul its tax system and an overview of tax breaks going back over 100 years were on Monday’s agenda of the Joint Select Committee of Tax Reform. Speakers included Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss and Deputy Secretary Mark Muchow at the day-long meeting. Links to materials from the meeting are available here where you can also send comments to the Committee.
The next meeting is May 18 where the Committee will hear from the conservative Tax Foundation as well as the National Conference of State Legislatures.
It’s too early to say what the Committee’s recommendations will be but we can look at ALEC-influenced policies in other states like Kansas to get an idea. More on this week’s discussion and the budget disasters taking place in Kansas here. For an overview, read Monday’s editorial in the Charleston Gazette here. Here’s a small piece of it: “If total revenue is lowered, the tax-cutters must spell out exactly what state services will be reduced: Will West Virginia have fewer state troopers, or mine inspectors, or highway workers, or schoolteachers, or college professors, or food inspectors, etc.?”
Working moms often struggle to make ends meet. Many get a boost through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), providing them more resources to support their families and pay for expenses like day care.
The federal EITC is a tax credit for low- and moderate-income working families and individuals. The CTC provides a tax credit of up to $1,000 for each eligible child to low- to upper-middle income working families.
Key provisions of the federal EITC and the CTC are set to expire at the end of 2017. More than 16 million people in low- and modest-income working families, including 8 million children, would fall into – or deeper into – poverty in 2018 if Congress doesn’t make the provisions permanent.
Give working mothers a gift this Mother’s Day by calling your representatives in Congress asking them to protect these important programs.
A month ago, WV American Water said that costs associated with the Freedom Industries spill would be included in their next rate hike. Since then, citizens have been organizing to tell WV American Water: “We Won’t Pay for Your Mistakes!”
Last week, WV American Water announced that they had changed their mind: costs associated with the Freedom spill are not included in their rate increase.
But, WV American Water has not given up on making us pay for their problem. In fact, they said that they will be seeking a separate, additional rate increase at a later date to recover the costs from the water crisis. Not only have they not fixed our water system, they want us to pay for their mistakes!
Join Advocates for a Safe Water System on Sunday, May 17 to tell WV American Water that we won’t pay for their mistakes. Meeting at 2 PM at their water treatment plant (corner of Smith and Court St.). More than 190 people have signed up — add your name here.
This presentation, borrowed from the Rockwood Leadership Institute, will explore the question of work-life balance from a variety of viewpoints and tools – a survey about workload, frameworks for thinking about your workload, strategies for achieving “balance,” an opportunity to reflect on your own experiences, etc.
Please email ourchildrenourfuturewv@gmail.com to RSVP. Please include your name, phone, address, and the number of people you will bring.
