West Virginia levies a severance tax on the production value of coal, natural gas, oil, and other natural resources produced in the state. During the most recent legislative interim session, the Joint Committee on Finance proposed legislation to -- yet again -- cut the state's already low severance tax. This comes on the heels of…
Blog
Under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), Congress temporarily increased the Child Tax Credit (CTC) for more than 65 million children nationally, including 346,000 in West Virginia where it reaches 93 percent of children. Since July, most households with children have received $250- $300 per child monthly via the increased CTC, but the final payment…
Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the overall year-over-year inflation rate in October was 6.2 percent, a notably high rate. While there are many reasons to believe that inflation will ease in the coming months, some, including West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, are arguing that current high rates of inflation are not…
The open enrollment period to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) started on November 1 and continues through January 15. This period allows individuals without existing health coverage to enroll in a private insurance plan or Medicaid – all in one place. As the nation continues to contend with the COVID-19 pandemic,…
In the first months after the federal government began issuing monthly payments of the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC), West Virginia saw a significant decrease in food insufficiency. West Virginians largely spent their CTC payments on household essentials, with food being at the top of the list, followed by utilities, clothing, and paying down debt.…
The US House of Representatives recently introduced its version of the Build Back Better plan. Under the House plan, 7.6 million people across the country would gain health coverage. Furthermore, health care would become more accessible to millions of Americans via increased subsidies on the individual marketplace. This plan aims to make health care accessible…
It's Halloween week -- time to get spooky! Who needs ghost stories when you have spine-tingling bars and trend lines? Here are five ghoulish charts about West Virginia in 2021 that will make your bones rattle and your blood curdle. At the beginning of the pandemic, West Virginia lost an unprecedented 101,000 jobs as total…
This blog post, co-authored by the Keystone Research Center's executive director Stephen Herzenberg and the WVCBP’s senior policy analyst Sean O'Leary, was originally published by the ReImagine Appalachia coalition. West Virginia is at the center of the national political storm surrounding the need to invest in infrastructure, in families, and in combating climate change. Notably, West Virginia…
Earlier this week, it was reported that Senator Manchin was calling for a significant weakening of the enhanced Child Tax Credit (CTC) as part of his proposal to scale back the Build Back Better agenda. The enhanced CTC is one of the signature programs of the recovery agenda and is already making a significant impact…
Economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed in recent months, as a wave of new delta variant cases has left its mark on the job market. After adding an average of 889,000 jobs per month in May, June, and July, the nation added only 366,000 in August and only 194,000 in September, leaving the…