Charleston Gazette - What if there was a way to get dirty needles off the streets while saving the city of Charleston hundreds of thousands of dollars, reducing infectious diseases such as HIV or hepatitis B and C, and saving dozens of lives in the process? Supervised injection facilities have been tried in other cities with…
OpEds
Beckley Register-Herald - When you enter the home of any West Virginian, you will be asked two questions: Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat? Story link.
Charleston Gazette - For the past decade, the West Virginia Legislature embarked on a strategy of cutting its way to growth — cutting corporate taxes by about $220 million a year. And this year the Legislature and governor are poised for more of the same, proposing to phase out $140 million in business property taxes for…
Charleston Gazette - We’ve all heard the phrase “local control.” It’s about putting the decision-making power in the hands of those who live, work, and play in our communities. We have heard lawmakers say that the “best government is the one that governs closest to the people.” Story link.
Charleston Gazette-Mail - For the first time in the past several years, West Virginia is not going through a budget crisis. Story link.
Charleston Gazette - State leaders are pushing for another large tax cut for corporations and they want you to pay for it. The constitutional amendment (SJR9) would phase out the industrial personal property tax on machinery, equipment, and inventory for manufacturing, coal mining, and natural gas and oil extraction. Link.
Charleston Gazette-Mail - In economics, if a factor has a big impact on growth, then you take that factor into account in your projections. Apparently, the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at West Virginia University does not do so. In March 2016 the Bureau reported that turning West Virginia into a Right-to-Work state by…
Huntington Herald-Dispatch/Williamson Daily News - Tax policy is one of the best ways to understand the values of our elected officials. It provides a clear indication of who they are working for, how they want to grow the economy, and how they plan to tackle some of our country's biggest problems. Read/Read Last week, the U.S. Senate…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - There’s an untold story of success in our state and local economies. During the last decade, unknown to many, an industry —– one with good paying jobs and benefits — was gaining steam all across the Mountain State, and more specifically in rural areas where other industries have since left (Story Link). This industry…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - “It’s kind of hard to sell ‘trickle down,’ so the supple-side formula was the only way to get a tax policy that was really ‘trickle down’…Kemp-Roth (the supply-side tax bill) was always a Trojan horse to bring down the top rate.” As some may remember, this quote is from David Stockman, President Reagan’s…