This week the results of a survey of voters across Appalachia show a majority support the Reclaim Act to bring federal resources to hard-hit coal communities. The majority also favor diversifying the area’s economy in order to bring more jobs to the region.
Here’s more from West Virginia Public Broadcasting and the Lexington Herald-Leader.
This week, the Tax Foundation released its 2017 State Business Tax Climate Index (SBTCI) that gave West Virginia the 18th-best state business tax climate in the country, better than any of our surrounding states, and up from 34th place.
The reason for this change has do with the major business tax cuts that were phased-in between 2007 and 2015 costing the state budget over $400 million. While this may have reduced business costs, it has led to large budget cuts to programs like higher education from which businesses directly benefit. And the cuts did not bring about private-sector job growth. West Virginia had more private sector jobs in 2007 (619,000), than it does today (614,500).
Read more in Ted’s blog post.
Click here to add your voice to the hundreds of thousands of people from across the country who are calling for a strong payday lending rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. While payday lending is illegal in West Virginia, a weak payday lending rule could give predatory lenders a way to get around our state’s strong protections.
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This Tuesday in Wheeling!
Sid Boettner doesn’t quite make it to the end of yesterday’s meeting
