Blog

November 6, 2018 by Kelly Allen
Marketplace Open for Health Coverage Enrollment

The annual open enrollment period for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, began on November 1stand continues through December 15th. This is a great time for folks who don’t get insurance through a job, Medicare or Medicaid to shop for health coverage at www.healthcare.gov. The Affordable Care Act and the…

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October 30, 2018 by Ted Boettner
West Virginia Cities Benefit From Online Sales Taxes Too

On October 1, the West Virginia Tax Department issued guidelines and outlined intentions to start collecting sales taxes from remote internet retailers on January 1, 2019. As Charleston Gazette-Mail reporter Phil Kabler recently noted, this was a sharp policy shift. Nearly four months ago, Governor Justice proclaimed he had no intentions to allow the state to collect online sales taxes and that,…

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October 26, 2018 by Sean O'Leary
The Dynamics of Social Capital

State of Working West Virginia co-author and West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy board member Rick Wilson penned this blog post. Rick is the Director of the West Virginia Economic Justice Project for the American Friends Service Committee. He is a regular contributor to the Charleston Gazette-Mail’s editorial page as well as to WVCBP reports…

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October 25, 2018 by Ted Boettner
30% of West Virginia Working Families Can’t Make Ends Meet

A new report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research finds that 30 percent of working families (age 19-64) in West Virginia are economically insecure, which means they don't make enough money to meet basic monthly expenses (food, transportation, housing, utilities, etc.) and reach modest financial goals. The economic insecurity measures takes into account working adults that…

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October 18, 2018 by Sean O'Leary
West Virginia’s Tax System Contributes To Inequality

State and local tax systems can be effectively used to boost economic opportunity, create broadly shared prosperity and build equitable state economies. But in most states, including West Virginia, tax systems are upside down and are making inequality worse, as a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows. The ITEP report examines the state…

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October 17, 2018 by Sean O'Leary
Who Pays? 2018

The lowest-income West Virginians pay 21 percent more in taxes as a percent of their income compared to the state's wealthiest residents, according to a new study released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. The study, Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in…

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October 16, 2018 by WVCBP
Food For All

Food for all. It's a simple concept most of us among West Virginia's hills agree with. No one should go hungry. That's why the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition and other partners are holding a one-day food summit - Food For All - to gather those across the…

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October 11, 2018 by Sean O'Leary
West Virginia’s Strong Personal Income Growth More Of A Blip Than A Trend

West Virginia made headlines in recent months with a strong quarter of personal income growth. While some media outlets and politicians took the data as further evidence of the so-called "West Virginia comeback," subsequent releases of personal income data show that the strong quarter was more likely an anomaly than a sign of a trend. West Virginia's total personal income…

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October 9, 2018 by Sean O'Leary
West Virginia’s Economic Outlook Worsens

The Bureau of Business and Economic Research at West Virginia University released its annual Economic Outlook Report for the state earlier this month. West Virginia is expected to experience slow job growth, with employment forecasted to grow at an average rate of 0.4 percent per year for the next five years, according to the report's forecast. That's…

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October 4, 2018 by Sean O'Leary
West Virginia’s Cuts to Higher Education Threaten Access and Equity

A decade since the Great Recession, state spending on higher education has yet to recover from years of deep cuts, including in West Virginia, according to a new report released today from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. West Virginia was one of 45 states that spent less per student in the 2018 school year than in 2008.…

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