If significant new revenue isn't included, efforts to reduce federal deficits would almost certainly damage West Virginia's economic recovery and future economic growth by drastically cutting federal investments in schools, roads and bridges, safe communities, and disaster relief. Read
News Releases
In times of economic uncertainty, employers are sometimes forced to lay-off their workers to cut costs and stay profitable. Lay-offs hurt employees and can cause businesses to lose experienced workers. Instead, companies can use work sharing, a voluntary program that allows employers to use unemployment benefits to retain their workers and avert lay-offs. Read
Middle-income and low-income West Virginians would pay somewhat more in taxes under the House's approach to extending the Bush tax cuts than they would under President Obama's approach, while high-income West Virginians would pay far less under the House approach, according to a new analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and Citizens…
More than one in six small business owners in the United States is an immigrant, according to a new report from the Fiscal Policy Institute's Immigration Research Initiative. Immigrants -- people born in another country -- make up 18 percent of all small business owners in the United States. By contrast, immigrants are 13 percent…
According to a report released today by the Economic Policy Institute, employer-sponsored health insurance has declined for the tenth year in a row nationwide, from 59.4% in 2009 to 58.6% in 2010. Read
A new report highlights the impact of prison overcrowding and provides recommendations. Even though its crime rate is stable and its population is barely growing, West Virginia's prison population continues to expand beyond the capacity of existing prisons and jails. Caught up in this crisis is the state's African American community whose members are at…
As the Marcellus "Gold Rush" comes to West Virginia, it is time for policymakers to consider establishing a permanent mineral trust fund in West Virginia, similar to what six other states have done. So concludes the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy in its report released today, "Creating an Economic Diversification Fund: Turning Nonrenewable…
Despite the fact that many economic development deals fall short on job creation or other benefits, states are highly inconsistent in how they monitor, verify and enforce the terms of job subsidies that cost taxpayers billions of dollars per year. Many states fail to even verify that companies receiving subsidies are meeting their job-creation and…