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.
OpEds
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…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - Congress could soon take up a dangerous piece of legislation that has the potential to cause immense harm to West Virginia working families and retirees, all in the name of lining the pockets of big banks and Wall Street billionaires. The so-called Financial CHOICE Act would radically roll back the rules put in…
Charleston Gazette - The centerpiece of the compromise tax plan currently under debate by the West Virginia Legislature is a major cut to the income tax rates paired with an increase in the sales tax. Since West Virginia’s current income tax is progressive, and based on the ability to pay, collapsing the brackets and reducing the…
Gazette - Unfazed by a looming budget crisis, some lawmakers are pursuing destructive tax proposals that would shift more of the tax load onto working families and small businesses to pay for tax cuts for wealthy and powerful special interests. West Virginia already has an upside down tax system that requires more from low- and middle-income…