Blog

May 1, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Why Don’t Business Climate Indexes Matter?

It's become a part-time hobby of mine to debunk the various "business climate" indexes, showing that they have little to do with actual economic health and performance (see here, here, here, here, here, here and here). These indexes typically operate in an evidence free zone, invariably tell West Virginia that we need to cut taxes,…

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April 29, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
FY 2014 Budget Update

On April 17, 2013, the West Virginia legislature passed the Fiscal Year 2014 budget. Only minor changes were made to Governor Tomblin’s $11.3 billion proposal, which was introduced at the start of the legislative session, with the final budget only $2.0 million smaller than the governor’s proposal, a reduction of 0.02 percent. The FY 2014…

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April 29, 2013 by Ted Boettner
How Should We Pay for Our Roads?

As we stated last month, West Virginia, like most states, is finding it increasingly difficult to pay for construction of its road and bridges because its gas tax can't keep up with the growth of fuel-efficient vehicles and the increasing number of miles driven on state roads. And while a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax…

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April 26, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Freedom for Whom? 50 State Index Guided By Libertarian Ideology, Not Freedom

Yesterday, Sean showed that ranking well on the libertarian 50 State "Freedom" index doesn't mean your state performs better economically nor does it have any relation to low poverty or higher wages. While Sean looked at the numbers, I would like to talk about the qualitative side of the equation. What does the Mercatus Center…

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April 25, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
West Virginia Lacks “Freedom,” Should We Worry?

Earlier this month, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University released the 3rd edition of the Freedom in the 50 States rankings, which measures fiscal, regulatory, and personal "freedom." The study shares some similarities with the previously discussed Economic Freedom Index, both in how it defines freedom, and its relationship with real world economic measures. Freedom…

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April 16, 2013 by Ted Boettner
We Must Invest in Our Communities, Our Families, and Our Economy

Taxes are how we pay for the things we do together for our communities, our families, and our economy. Working together through government allows us to accomplish things that are vital to us in West Virginia and that we cannot do alone. Our roads allow us to get to work each day and they allow…

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April 11, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Is the Coal Tax Credit a Giveaway?

Yesterday, the Senate Energy Committee passed out HB 3072, which gives West Virginia coal companies a severance tax credit of $3 per ton for coal that is sold to power plants in the state that is an excess of what was sold in 2012. As we noted in an earlier post, the tax credit could…

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April 10, 2013 by Sean O'Leary
Governor Requests Budget Adjustments

Last week, Governor Tomblin sent a letter to the House and Senate leadership requesting an adjustment to the FY 2014 budget, which he previously submitted to the legislature at the beginning of the session. Governor Tomblin restores some of the 7.5% budget cuts that were included in the original budget and includes new funding for…

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April 5, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Overall, Natural Resource Extraction Jobs Are Growing in W.Va.

While there has been lots of shouting about the state losing coal jobs, as a whole, the state's natural resource extraction employment picture looks very healthy. All together, employment in the natural gas and coal industry reached almost 37,000 in the third quarter of 2012 - its highest point over the last ten years. While…

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April 5, 2013 by Ted Boettner
Do Coal Companies Need Another Tax Subsidy?

This week the House passed the "West Virginia Coal Employment Enhancement Act," which gives local coal producers a $3 per ton tax credit on coal sold to West Virginia power plants and other industries. According to the bill (HB 3072), the tax credit (upon the severance tax) is given only to West Virginia coal that…

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