West Virginia has long been at the forefront of the overdose epidemic in the US. Since 2010, its death rate per 100,000 by overdose of any type of drug has led the nation. Our new report both shows the heavy economic toll this crisis has on West Virginia as a whole and shines a spotlight on Kanawha County, the…
Budget Beat
Yesterday, Governor Jim Justice unveiled his long-awaited proposal to reduce the state personal income tax. As currently structured, it would raise West Virginia’s sales tax to 7.9 percent, making it the highest state sales tax in the country, and effectively making our combined state and local sales tax rate 8.4 percent, higher than that of any of our surrounding…
SB 387 is currently being considered by the West Virginia Senate. This bill would make applicants who test positive for drugs or refuse a drug test ineligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) assistance. Our new blog post from health policy analyst Rhonda Rogombé explains how such a policy choice would further stigma, harm vulnerable…
On Wednesday, WVCBP hosted its 8th Annual Budget Breakfast where we provided analysis of Governor Justice’s proposed budget as well as a keynote panel highlighting the lessons learned and painful tax cuts necessitated from Kansas’ failed Brownback Tax Experiment. WVCBP senior policy analyst Sean O'Leary kicked off the event by breaking down Governor Justice's proposed FY2022…
The Governor's annual State of the State address took place this Wednesday evening. During the address, Governor Justice previewed a troubling plan to eliminate the income tax by increasing the sales tax, cutting services, and using one-time federal stimulus money to close the gap. Here's WVCBP executive director Kelly Allen's statement on the address: "Every good…
30+ community orgs sent a letter to West Virginia's state leadership this week urging them to reject tax cuts that would take away the state’s ability to provide critical public services or that would shift tax responsibility from the wealthy and corporations onto the West Virginia families who’ve been most impacted by the pandemic. "We…
We’ve covered Governor Justice’s and legislative leadership’s goal of eliminating the state’s personal income tax from several angles over the past few weeks, showing that states without income taxes aren’t growing any faster than states with the highest income taxes, that eliminating the income tax would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy, and that replacing the income tax with…
Feb. 10 marks the beginning of West Virginia’s 85th Legislature, and with this session lawmakers will have the opportunity to build upon their 2020 criminal justice reform efforts. The following are WVCBP's criminal justice priorities for 2021:- Immediately Protect Incarcerated People & Correctional Facility Staff Amid COVID-19 - Pursue Robust Sentencing Reform - Enhance Transparency in…
Last week’s blog post explored how eliminating the income tax in West Virginia would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy, and that replacing just half the revenue lost with an increased sales tax would result in a substantial tax shift, with low- and middle-income West Virginians seeing a tax increase in order to pay for a tax cut for…
A primary function of West Virginia's jail system is to house pre-trial defendants, but despite recent bail reform, jail incarceration is surging and this growth is burdening the counties responsible for paying the costs. County spending on jails is rising along with rising jail population, but between 2014 and 2019, jail billing rose nearly seven…