Here is an opinion piece in the State Journal discussing the business personal property tax that makes many of the same mistakes others make when arguing for business tax cuts. West Virginia taxes business personal property which includes manufacturing equipment and machinery. While West Virginia isn't the only state with the tax, several states do not.…
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Most agree that the Great Recession began in late 2007, but we're a little behind in West Virginia. When it comes to jobs, the recession began to affect West Virginia in October of 2008. Between October 2008 and January 2010, West Virginia's economy lost 32,400 jobs. Since then, the state has slowly added 11,600 jobs.…
According to the national Center on Budget and Policy Priorities , many of West Virginia's elderly would be living in poverty, if not for Social Security. According our recent report, about 30 percent of West Virginia seniors rely solely on Social Security in retirement. What's particularly surprising is the significant number of children who receive…
The evidence that renewing Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans would work against the interest of average Americans is overwhelming. First, renewing breaks for the wealthy would reduce revenues by anywhere from $80 billion to $90 billion over the next two years. Revenue projections in the long-term look bleak, as well, with an estimated…
On a vote of 61-30, the US Senate approved $25 billion in state fiscal relief. This includes $15 billion in Medicaid support and $10 billion in education support. For West Virginia, this amounts to $136 million, with an estimated $81 million in Medicaid funds and $55 million in education funds. Both Goodwin and Rockefeller voted…
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a statement that shows total nonfarm payroll employment declining by 131,000 in July 2010, and the unemployment rate remaining unchanged at 9.5 percent. The decline in employment is the result of federal government census workers wrapping up their work. However, a bright spot in the report exists as private-sector…
The coal industry is often spoken of as if it is synonymous with West Virginia's economy. While coal companies certainly remain a significant employer of West Virginians -- over 22,000 jobs in 2008 -- data show that the industry has provided fewer and fewer jobs and wages over time compared to the state economy as…
AP has an article this morning showing that the state is running a $24 million surplus in the first month of FY 2011. Mark Muchow, Deputy Secretary of Revenue (and the guy who calculated the revenue projections for FY 2011), said it was "mostly due to...early lottery fund transfer and one-time liquor license renewal payments."…
David Stockman, former OMB director under Reagan, warned in the NYT on Saturday that extending Bush's tax cuts would amount to "filing for bankruptcy." Stockman goes on to say, "debt explosion has resulted not from big spending by the Democrats, but instead the Republican Party's embrace, about three decades ago, of the insidious doctrine that…
Over the next several weeks, we will be publishing several blog posts examining the facets of the coal economy in West Virginia. We recently published a report looking at the fiscal impact of coal on the state budget. It found that while coal does provide millions in revenue and thousands of jobs, it also costs…