On Crossover Day, the West Virginia House of Delegates passed two bills that have the intended purpose of boosting coal production and putting coal miners back to work. Unfortunately, they chose to do so in a very ineffective and expensive way, through cuts and rebates to the severance tax. HB 3142 would cut the severance…
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This blog post was written by Jesse Cross-Call, Senior Policy Analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. West Virginia’s House is expected to vote today on House Bill 3136, which would likely take Medicaid coverage away from at least 46,000 non-elderly adults who can’t meet proposed work requirements. Read blog post. The bill…
House Income Tax Cut Plan Mostly Benefits Wealthy and Puts Large Holes in the State Budget (HB 3137)
On Wednesday, the House Finance Committee originated HB 3137 that would reduce the state's five personal income tax rates by a half of a percentage point (0.5%) each time a newly created "personal income tax reduction fund" that is funded by online sales taxes and lottery revenues reaches a balance of $200 million. Since higher-income…
This week, the West Virginia legislature originated a bill in the House Finance Committee to enact work requirements for Medicaid. The bill quickly passed the committee and headed to the House floor. The bill stems from actions last year, when the Trump administration announced that it would allow states to remove some low-income adults from…
Making ends meet is a struggle for many West Virginians employed in lower-wage jobs. In fact, 23% of workers in West Virginia are employed in low-wage jobs and a quarter of those live in poverty. People working in their communities as daycare workers, restaurant servers, home health aides, administrative assistants, and many other lower-income jobs deserve to be able to…
A new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) looks at who would benefit from raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024. According to EPI, if the federal minimum wage ($7.25/hour) was raised by about $1.30/hour/year over the next six years - reaching $15 in 2024 - it would benefit approximately…
Picture this: there is a federal program that is able to help with transitioning drug offenders back into society when they are released from prison. It provides up to around $200 per month (non-cash) only to be used to meet necessary food expenses for the offender and their family. It is paid for with federal…
In his State of the State address, Governor Jim Justice proposed the elimination of the personal income tax on Social Security income. Justice's proposal, S.B 342, would completely exclude Social Security benefits from the state income tax, similar to how the state treats military retirement income. While this is being touted as a "middle class"…
Governor Justice will be making his State of the State address this week, followed by the release of his proposed FY 2020 budget. Here's some key areas of the budget to watch for: Pay Raise and PEIA The governor has previously promised an additional five-percent pay raise for public employees, as well as pledging $100…
One year after celebrating the repeal of the Clean Power Plan, the West Virginia Coal Association, apparently unhappy with the results of the "most impactful decision to date for the nation’s energy security and stability," is back asking for more, once again calling for a reduction in the coal severance tax. The Coal Association argues that…