The State Journal - Recently, West Virginia’s Republican Congressional delegation, led by U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, helped thousands of West Virginians with its vote for a working families tax credit. This huge step means that improvements made to the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Children’s Tax Credit (CTC) years ago are now…
OpEds
Charleston Gazette-Mail - All too often, public policy debates get couched between those who favor government intervention in the market and those who do not. When it comes to economic issues, the framing is usually that conservatives favor less government or the “free market” while progressives want government solutions and non-market outcomes. This framing is…
Wall Street Journal - Paul Tice’s “Obama’s Appalachian Tragedy” (Dec. 1) wrongly puts most of the blame for West Virginia’s struggling coal industry and economy on recent clean-air regulations. In reality, the increasing cost of mining harder-to-access coal seams is the primary reason for the decline. ReadCoal-mining productivity has dropped by over 50% in the…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - There has been coverage in the media lately on the activities of the new coalition promoting the creation of a state EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) but not as much attention to the federal EITC and Child Tax Credits (CTC), major portions of which are set to expire in 2017 unless Congress…
Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram - A month ago, Pope Francis told Congress of his admiration for working folk striving “each day to do an honest day’s work, to bring home their daily bread, to save money and — one step at a time — to build a better life for their families.” ReadThen, rather than accepting the invitation…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - EITC gives working families a hand up, not a hand out ReadThe U.S. Census Bureau has released annual figures on poverty in America, and once again West Virginia has one of the nation’s highest rates of poverty in the country.One quarter of West Virginia children live in poverty, a number that’s been…
Huntington Herald-Dispatch - Mounds of receipts, a mad dash to beat the clock - that's what comes to mind for many Americans when you mention April 15. But tax season is about much more than paperwork and refund checks. It's about hard work, livelihoods and futures. ReadFor many low-income West Virginia workers, the federal Earned…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - If you like the idea of rewarding people who work, then you probably like the Earned Income Tax Credit. ReadIt is no wonder that both Democrats and Republicans support it. It only goes to people who work. Parents qualify for a higher credit than childless people. It phases out as incomes rise.…
Huntington Herald-Dispatch - The debate over West Virginia's prevailing wage law continues months after the Legislature passed S.B. 361, which required Workforce West Virginia to develop a new methodology for determining prevailing wage rates using all available economic evidence. ReadRecently, the Joint Committee on Government and Finance rejected the proposed new methodology, in part because…
New York Times - “Miners Bracing for a Future of Ever-Dwindling Demand for Coal” (front page, July 18), about the struggles of coal miners, captured a vivid picture of Appalachian coal communities suffering from the industry’s collapse. ReadWe must not forget that these communities fueled our expansion westward, energized the Industrial Revolution and powered our…