Tax and Budget

For Immediate Release: June 21, 2021Contact: Kelly Allen or 304-612-4180 Charleston, WV - The White House declared today “Child Tax Credit Awareness Day” to raise knowledge and awareness about the transformative improvements to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) approved as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The CTC provides much-needed relief to families, boosting opportunity and improving…

Charleston Gazette-Mail - West Virginia’s bridges, dams, drinking water, roads and wastewater have received a D grade from the American Society of Civil Engineers, and 24% of the state’s residents live in a broadband desert. Furthermore, 54% live in a child care desert and 19% of children in the state live in poverty. Read the…

Beckley Register-Herald - For a state that has given much to build this nation of steel, laboring in the coal mines all these years, it is frustrating to watch West Virginia’s two U.S. senators stand in the way of the Biden administrative plan to repay a portion of that debt. Read the full article. Yes,…

Last month, President Biden announced the American Families Plan (AFP) proposal, featuring major investments in K-12 education, child care, higher education, health care, and paid leave, as well as extended tax cuts for families and workers with children. The AFP also includes revenue-raising proposals that would affect only very high-income taxpayers. And while the benefits…

The American Families Plan framework as outlined by the Biden Administration represents the single biggest investment in the economic security of workers and families since FDR’s New Deal. Two specific policies, permanent expansions of both the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC), will directly increase the household incomes of hundreds of…

WOWK - On Inside West Virginia Politics, Seth DiStefano from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy office says he supports President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, which affects the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit. Watch the full segment. “When it comes to West Virginia kids and West Virginia working families, there…

WOWK - This week on Inside West Virginia Politics, officials from West Virginia and beyond discuss President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill, how West Virginia is expanding broadband, and how a donation to a university in West Virginia will help undergrad students. Watch the full segment. In Segment 1, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R) Kentucky shares his…

Taxes were a major focus of the 2021 West Virginia legislative session, with the elimination of the state personal income tax a top priority for the governor as well as for House and Senate leadership. Fortunately for the state, all of the various proposals -- which each would have devastated the state budget while shifting…

Last week, Governor Justice approved the FY 2022 budget passed by the legislature at the end of session. While the fate of the budget was up in the air for most of the session as the legislature attempted to eliminate the income tax, by the time the session came to a close, only a few…

Charleston Gazette-Mail - I was trying to find a word that sums up the 2021 legislative session, and after much consideration, it came to me: Despicable. Read the full article. Despicable, in that the Legislature committed acts of cruelty for no reason but the sheer pleasure they derived from doing so. They passed a despicable…