Tax and Budget

April 1, 2024 by Rhonda Rogombe
Affordable Healthcare Advocates Urge Lawmakers to Adjust State Budget Funding for Medicaid Recipients

West Virginia MetroNews, WCHS - Amid nearly one-third of West Virginians relying on Medicaid, the state-federal affordable healthcare insurance program could face over a $100 million dollar shortfall if lawmakers don’t act. Read the full article. State healthcare experts met on Monday morning in Charleston advocating for West Virginia legislators to vote to preserve and…

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April 1, 2024 by WVCBP
Advocates, Dems Urge Medicaid Funding

West Virginia Watch, News from the States, Bluefield Daily Telegraph - With a special legislative session to address the state budget on the horizon, advocates for West Virginia Medicaid called on state policy makers Monday to fund the health care program. Read the full article. Ellen Allen, executive director of West Virginians for Affordable Health…

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March 28, 2024 by Sean O'Leary, Rhonda Rogombe, Kelly Allen
Final 2025 Budget Makes Deep Cuts to Medicaid, Fails to Meet Important Needs

Late in the evening on the final day of the 2024 regular session, lawmakers passed what they referred to as a “skinny budget” totaling $4.997 billion in general revenue for FY 2025. The enacted budget reflects a spending increase of $122 million over FY 2024’s budget, but it is $226 million less than what the…

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March 8, 2024 by Kelly Allen
Potential $465M Federal Clawback Raises Concerns About West Virginia Schools

Associated Press, Cumberland Times-News - West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice’s administration has been characterized by flat budgets and record surpluses that helped cut the state’s income tax last year. Read the full article. Now, the state could face collateral damage: a possible $465 million clawback of pandemic aid by the U.S. Department of Education. It has…

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March 5, 2024 by Sean O'Leary
February’s Weak Revenue Numbers Warning of Things to Come

Now that West Virginia families and businesses are filing their 2023 taxes, the state is beginning to see the full impact of tax changes enacted last year. February's revenue collections were historically weak, coming in 30 percent, or $124 million, below last February's collections. February's revenue numbers are the worst in at least a decade…

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March 1, 2024 by Kelly Allen
To Comply With the Feds, West Virginia Must Pass a Strong Budget

This week we got our first look at the House and Senate versions of the FY 2025 budget. Both the Senate and the House proposed budgets came in far below the governor’s proposed budget, even as the governor’s budget proposal is $450 million below pre-pandemic FY 2019 expenditures after adjusting for inflation. And while legislative…

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February 23, 2024 by Kelly Allen
Social Security Plan To Phase Out Taxes

Newsweek - Lawmakers in West Virginia have approved a bill that will see state income tax on Social Security benefits be gradually phased out. Read the full article. Republican Governor Jim Justice announced in January during his annual budget proposal that he wished to see all state-levied taxes on Social Security axed. The plan has taken a step…

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February 22, 2024 by Sean O'Leary
West Virginia Growing More Reliant on Volatile Severance Tax Revenue

West Virginia's revenue collections are down $378 million compared to this time last year, in large part due to a collapse in severance tax revenue. At this point in FY 2023 West Virginia had collected $631 million in severance tax revenue, while this year the state has only collected $168 million as a result of…

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February 22, 2024 by Kelly Allen
House Passes Bill to Eliminate Social Security Tax 

West Virginia Watch, News from the States - The West Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday unanimously passed legislation that would eliminate the state’s tax on Social Security benefits. Read the full article. House Bill 4880 would implement the tax cut over three years, starting with a 35% deduction for 2024, 65% for 2025 and 100%…

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