While there has been a lot of debate about how President Obama's environmental policies would hurt West Virginia's coal industry and economy, there has been very little discussion about the impact of Governor Romney and Representative Paul Ryan's proposed policies on the Mountain State. Both Romney and Ryan have proposed drastic changes to federal spending…
Blog
A recent article from Governing Magazine shows that West Virginia had the largest increase in income inequality from 2010 to 2011. While West Virginia has traditionally had lower levels of income inequality compared to most states, income inequality in the Mountain State is now nearly the same as the national average. The graph below uses…
With a number of tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year, Congressional Republicans have called for extending one tax cut in particular, while endings improvements in tax credits for millions of low and moderate income working families. As part of the 2009 stimulus bill, several improvements were made to the Earned…
In their 2013 Policy Reports, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce advocates for the creation of a new tax loophole for businesses to avoid paying the state corporate net income and business franchise taxes. The Chamber wants the state to repeal the "sales throw out rule" and ensure that it is not replaced by a "sales…
Recent comments by Mitt Romney about the "47 percent" have prompted discussion about who actually pays taxes and why. Mr. Romney's sentiment was also recently echoed by West Virginia's Representative Shelley Moore Capito at last month's fiscal summit featuring Alan Simpson and Erksine Bowles, when Representative Capito asked about the 47 percent of Americans who…
The projected decline of Central Appalchian coal production is one of the biggest challenges facing the state in the near future. While there are many reasons for the decline, some are irreversible, as much of the easy to reach coal has been mined out. This has prompted a great deal of concern in the state, chiefly regarding the…
On Monday, the Governor announced that some state agencies will have to reduce their budgets by 7.5 percent next year to make way for a projected budget gap in the FY 2013-14 budget that begins on July 1, 2013. Left untouched by the budget cuts are the school-aid formula, corrections programs, the legislative and judicial branches, Medicaid,…
Con't from previous post: Another way to put these corporate tax cuts in perspective is by comparing the growth in corporate taxes with the growth in sales and personal income taxes over the last two decades. While personal and sales and use taxes have more than doubled from FY1990 to FY2012, the corporate net income and business franchise tax has…
On Monday, the Governor announced that some state agencies will have to reduce their budgets by 7.5 percent next year to make way for a projected budget gap in the FY 2013-14 budget that begins on July 1, 2013. Left untouched by the budget cuts are the school-aid formula, corrections programs, the legislative and judicial…
Last week, the U.S. Senate passed legislation extending the Bush tax cuts for households with incomes below $250,000 ($200,000 for individuals). While the legislation won't take effect without action from the U.S. House of Representatives, some folks are expressing concern that by allowing the top tax rate cut to expire many small business would be…