When we last looked at the proposal to raise West Virginia's minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 per hour, I showed that while West Virginia's workers' productivity was increasing, their wages weren't, making it an ideal time to raise the minimum wage. And while over 600 economists have joined together, stating that the weight of…
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Recently, Revenue Secretary Bob Kiss and Revenue Deputy Secretary Mark Muchow made news by finally admitting that cuts in the business franchise and corporate net income tax, as well as cuts to the food tax, have cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue, to the tune of $360 million for FY 2015.…
A proposal to raise West Virginia's minimum wage is currently working its way through the legislature. If passed, the state's minimum wage would increase from its current level of $7.25 to $8.25. This would increase the wages of 113,000 West Virginia workers (and the parents of 42,000 children). Currently 21 states and the District of Columbia…
General revenue collections for December 2013 ended up $24.1 million below estimates, and are down $81.5 million for the year. The biggest underperformer so far has been the personal income tax, which is currently $63.9 million below estimate. So what is the cause of its poor performance? To understand why personal income tax revenue isn't…
The Governor's FY 2015 Executive Budget was released last week. After an across-the-board round of 7.5% cuts in last year's budget, followed by a $30 million mid-year cut, this year's budget features another round of cuts, totaling $70 million. The chart below list a sample of those cuts. Highlights include higher education, which bore the…
Governor Releases State Budget Right at the start of the 2014 Legislative Session came news of mid-year budget cuts that will fall heavily on the state Department of Health and Human Resources and on the state's colleges and universities. These additional cutbacks will be in addition to budget reductions already impacting these agencies and their…
7:30AM - 9:00AM, Charleston Marriott The state budget is the most important bill passed each year by the legislature. It directly impacts all West Virginians - from the quality of our schools and highways, to the cost of college education, to working families' access to affordable child care and health care. REGISTER TO ATTEND Although West…
Nothing highlights the shift in Appalachian coal production more than Boone and Marshall County, West Virginia. For as long as I can remember, Boone County was always #1 in coal production. Today, Marshall County, which is located in the north-west part of the state, is the state's biggest coal producer at 17.2 million tons (compared…
The National Association of Budget Officers (NASBO) has released the Fall 2013 edition of its Fiscal Survey of the States. When we last checked in on the NASBO report, West Virginia was one of eight states cutting its general budget in FY 2014 from Fy 2013, with the second largest cut among the states. With…
The recent budget deal announced by leaders in Congress has left out one very important provision for those struggling to find work, the extension of emergency unemployment insurance benefits. On December 28, 1.3 million long term unemployed workers, including 16,000 West Virginians, will lose their unemployment benefits. As I previously discussed here, these benefits increased…