On Saturday afternoon of day 46 of the West Virginia legislative session, the Senate Finance committee unveiled and passed their second attempt at a tax cut without discussion or questions and then suspended rules to pass it out of the chamber. The legislation, HB 2526, looks very much like the plan they passed earlier this…
Tax and Budget
This afternoon the Senate Finance Committee introduced their version of the FY 2024 budget. Notably–to account for their plan to cut taxes for the state's wealthiest households and businesses–the Senate's proposed budget is significantly smaller than the budget proposed by the governor. The Senate budget proposal relies on one-time surplus funds to pay for ongoing,…
West Virginia MetroNews - Senators today started consideration of West Virginia’s general revenue budget, leaving room for the possibility of a tax cut. Read the full article. “It contemplates the largest tax cut to the citizens of West Virginia in the history of West Virginia, passing the Senate,” Senate Finance Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, said…
West Virginia MetroNews - The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy continues to analyze the tax cut plans brewing in the Legislature and to offer some ideas that they think are better uses for a budget surplus. Read the full article. Center Executive Director Kelly Allen met with some residents at the Morgantown library…
Charleston Gazette-Mail, Times West Virginian - “Go big or go home.” That was the message from Stephen Moore — an adviser to Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback on his disastrous tax experiment — during a panel promoting tax cuts earlier this week. Alongside him was Grover Norquist, who famously said of the state’s supply-side driven tax…
Dominion Post - The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy came to Morgantown Thursday evening to critique the tax cut plans brewing in the Legislature and to offer some ideas that they think are better uses for a budget surplus. Read the full article. Center Executive Director Kelly Allen met with some residents around…
The 2023 state legislative session has seen both chambers heavily focused on turning the state’s revenue “surplus” into personal income tax cuts, despite the clear need for new spending after four years of austerity forced by flat budgets. We’ve covered at length the temporary factors driving the surplus, as well as the fallacy of calling…
Over the course of a six-hour period, the West Virginia Senate unveiled their tax cut proposal, rushed it through committee (without a fiscal note, hearing testimony from a single witness, or any members asking any questions), and suspended the rules requiring three days of readings to pass it out of the chamber. While lawmakers repeatedly…
West Virginia MetroNews - Senate President Craig Blair is feeling pretty good about the rollout of a new tax proposal estimated at $600 million. Read the full article. Senators introduced and passed a bill that touches on several sections of the tax code. On Thursday morning, Senate leaders met with House leaders and representatives of…
With a relatively short 60-day legislative session, the bills that get considered—and the ones that don’t—tell us a lot about our lawmakers’ priorities. Now that we are exactly halfway through the 2023 session, the WVCBP team lends insight into what we’ve seen prioritized so far and what we would like to see prioritized during the…