A West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy statewide poll shows seventy percent of West Virginians are willing to pay more in taxes to protect funding for education, public safety, and roads and bridges. Read the story here. Continued cuts to vital services citizens use daily will cause even further harm to our communities and state's…
Blog
Earlier this week the Census Bureau released its annual state population estimates. The data showed West Virginia losing an estimated 9,951 residents from July 2015 to July 2016, making West Virginia one of only eight states to lose population in the past year. Digging deeper into the data sheds a little more light on the…
Recent data shows that West Virginia's economy remains sluggish. While nonfarm employment grew by a little over 10,000 jobs in November, this was almost entirely driven largely by a huge jump in local government employment from temporary hiring of election workers. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, personal income growth in West Virginia grew…
Irresponsible budget cuts that slash basic funding for education, public safety, and roads put our state at risk and hurt our families. We are rolling out our Protect West Virginia campaign next month in hopes of holding lawmakers accountable and demanding real budget solutions to preserve our heritage, safeguard our communities, and secure the state's…
184,000 West Virginians Could Lose Coverage with Partial Affordable Care Act Repeal An Urban Institute analysis projects 184,000 West Virginians would lose health care coverage under an Affordable Care Act repeal, a 208 percent increase in the number of uninsured. "The ACA, while not perfect, has become a foundation of health security for thousands of…
Not content with the recent $425 million in tax cuts passed in recent years, the legislature's attention has once again turned to the state's business personal property tax. The business personal property tax (sometimes short handedly referred to as the inventory tax) was the topic of the most recent Joint Select Committee on Tax Reform subcommittee…
With the new Trump Administration's promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare), Congress is now considering partial repeal through the budget reconciliation process, to avoid a filibuster. The repeal maybe phased in over time, but no replacement plan has been defined. The budget reconciliation process only allows changes to components…
Jennifer Jett Prezkop writes, "West Virginia's financial situation is a precarious one at best," in her West Virginia Executive Magazine article. Read. WVCBP Executive Director Ted Boettner had this to say on the matter: "policymakers will need to address the revenue problems in order to improve the state's fiscal health and make much needed investments that…
Back in early May, President-Elect Donald Trump pledged to revive West Virginia's coal industry and some school officials in Boone County say they are counting on this to help them keep schools open and save jobs. While it doesn't need to be repeated here that this is highly unlikely (see here, here, here, and here), it…
West Virginians for Affordable Health Care is hosting U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell on Tuesday, November 22, at 11 a.m. on the campus of the University of Charleston. Register here. Secretary Burwell will talk with West Virginians who have benefitted from the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare). The event will be hosted in…