WVCBP in the News The Charleston Daily Mail's article about how nearly half of all West Virginian's don't have a savings safety net included quotes from WVCBP staff and board members and capped off a week of discussion about the status of low-income families in West Virginia. West Virginia Public News Service also covered the…
Budget Beat
Tax Credit Would Help Low-Income Working Families Today's Charleston Gazette endorsed the idea of a state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for West Virginia. Low-income working families have long been able to use a tax credit on their federal returns and in some states can do the same on their state returns. In today's OpEd,…
Best Education Reform? Reduce Child Poverty Newly inaugurated Governor Earl Ray Tomblin is making education reform one of his policy priorities. This week, Ted's blog post discussed several studies that show that children who live in poverty are more likely to score poorly on tests and have other poor outcomes in terms of education. Since…
Fiscal Cliff's Impact on West Virginians In his blog post this week, Stuart Frazier explains the impact the fiscal cliff negotiaions will have on West Virginians including the good (extension of Child Care Tax Credit) and the bad (expiration of Payroll Tax Holiday) policies that were part of the compromise. Read more about how the decisions in…
Happy New Year! Congratulations to Senator Dan Foster! The Charleston Gazette named Senator Dan Foster as the West Virginian of the Year for 2012. Senator Foster is wrapping up a decade of legislative service this month and will be missed at the Capitol. He was a champion of issues that affect low-income West Virginians such…
Happy holidays from all of us at the WV Center on Budget and Policy! Good News! Governor Delays Child Care Cuts This week Governor Tomblin said, "After much discussion with parents and folks in the childcare industry, I decided it's not in the best interest of West Virginia families to move forward with the scheduled…
Time to Embrace 21st Century on Internet Sales Tax Each year West Virginia loses millions because it does not tax Internet sales. Like most states, West Virginia taxes the in-store sales of physical books, movies, software, and games, but when these products are delivered digitally over the Internet, sales tax does not apply. A new…
West Virginia #2 In Tax Give-Aways; Legislature Poised to Take a Look This Wednesday, December 12, Keith Burdette, Cabinet Secretary Department of Commerce and Russell Fry, Executive Director, Work Force West Virginia will present to the Joint Finance Committee on transparency in tax expenditures to create and retain jobs. In October, the WVCBP released "Every…
People Before Politics This Monday, December 3, Senator Joe Manchin will meet with religious leaders and families to discuss what he will do to put West Virginia's people above partisan politics in the current fiscal cliff debate. A reception starts at 9:30AM at John XXIII on Hodges Road in Charleston. The event is free and…
October Jobs Count - State Adds Jobs For First Time in Months October's jobs numbers showed a reversal from previous months with the state adding instead of losing jobs. While this is good news, West Virginia is still not keeping up with the national average in terms of jobs growth. The biggest winner in October…