Budget Beat for June 21, 2013 Evidence Counts - the WVCBP blog On July 1, interest rates on Stafford student loans are set to double, making higher education even less affordable for West Virginia students and their families. The average college debt for West Virginia students has climbed by $10,000 since 2004 to over $25,000,…
Budget Beat
So, the pepperoni roll was recently voted America's favorite food in the "Taste of America" contest and West Virginia has some of the best to offer. Here are some other things about West Virginia we thought you might like to know: This week the Equal Pay Act turned 50. While some women are now earning…
Budget Beat for June 7, 2013 Evidence Counts - the WVCBP blog Income inequality and the decline of the middle class were the subject of Ted's blog post this week. To see the direction West Virginia has gone, look no further than the state's top employer, once Weirton Steel, now Wal-Mart. With the shift in…
As the date rolls closer for the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act and in the same week that the U.S. House of Representatives voted for the thirty-odd time to repeal the law, the Wheeling Intelligencer reported on a doctor forced to close his doors due to Obamacare. The reason given is that the…
Budget Beat for May 17, 2013 Evidence Counts - the WVCBP blog Cuts to the FY 2014 state budget are beginning to take their toll as the state's colleges and universities react by taxing college goers with an increase in tuition. With state aid decreasing and tuition costs increasing, students and their families are taking…
Budget Beat - May 10, 2013 Evidence Counts - the WVCBP blog Watch where you get sick. Costs for medical procedures in West Virginia can vary wildly from hospital to hospital, costing thousands of dollars more depending on which hospital is performing them. Read more in Ted's blog post. The power of West Virginia's governor…
Yesterday Governor Tomblin announced his decision to expand Medicaid. Effective January 1, 2014, tens of thousands of West Virginia's working families will now have health insurance. This long-awaited decision is the biggest victory for low-income working West Virginia families in decades. Read more about what the WVCBP had to say about this big news here.…
The 2013 Legislative Session and FY 2014 Budget are now in the history books. Many of the major pieces of new legislation were the focus of our research over the past year. In addition, as the session unfolded, we responded to issues d'jour as they appeared. Here's how things turned out: FAMILY ECONOMIC SECURITY Arguably the high…
Freedom means different things to different people. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranks West Virginia 42nd in overall freedom and recommends that the state cut employment and corporate income taxes, reform liability laws, and stop mandating full-day kindergarten attendance. Read more in Sean's blog post. The ranking places the priorities of corporations and…
Budget Beat for April 19, 2013 Evidence Counts - the WVCBP blog This week was all about taxes and budgets. While the House and Senate met to work out differences between their budget bills and the one presented by the governor in February, there really wasn't much to talk about as any disparities were minimal.…