Tax and Budget

January 21, 2024 by Kelly Allen
Justice’s Legislative Agenda Includes Three More Tax Break Proposals

West Virginia MetroNews - Following on the heels of a big personal income tax cut, Gov. Jim Justice has proposed three more tax breaks. Read the full article. West Virginia lawmakers will now need to make a calculation about whether the state can afford to embrace the proposals. The state’s 21.25 personal property tax cut…

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January 14, 2024 by Kelly Allen
More Tax Cut Triggers and Other Reductions are Disturbances in the State Financial Force

West Virginia MetroNews - Officials considering Gov. Jim Justice’s proposed $5.22 billion general revenue budget will also need to take into account a few variables. Those could have such weight that officials are projecting state revenue will dip slightly over the next several years. Read the full article. One factor is the possibility that West…

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January 4, 2024 by Kelly Allen
Tax Cut Triggers Complicate Budgeting Process, Come at Cost of Pressing Unmet Needs

When state lawmakers return to Charleston later this month, enacting a state budget could be more complicated than in past years. As part of the tax cut package enacted in 2023, lawmakers didn’t just slash the personal income tax once—they also set into motion a ticking clock that will eventually fully eliminate the tax without…

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December 13, 2023 by WVCBP
New Brief: Hope Scholarship Reduces Resources for Public Schools, Lacks Necessary Oversight

For Immediate Release: December 13, 2023 Contact: Kelly Allen, (304)-612-4180 Charleston, WV – The vast majority of school-age children in West Virginia attend and receive their education through the public school system, and West Virginia’s state constitution requires "a thorough and efficient system of free schools." But a growing Hope Scholarship voucher program is diverting public resources…

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November 18, 2023 by WVCBP
Statehouse Beat: Justice’s PEIA albatross remains

Charleston Gazette-Mail - Throughout their reign, the GOP legislative supermajority has treated public school and public employees as adversaries, perhaps because they are the literal personification of the party’s failure to achieve a core goal of drastically shrinking the size of government and government services. Read the full article. Certainly, two successful statewide walkouts by…

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November 16, 2023 by Kelly Allen
Justice Set Us Up for Financial Crisis

Dominion-Post - Recently, The Dominion Post Editorial Board met with Kelly Allen from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, and she taught us a few things about how the state’s budget works (or, as is sometimes the case, doesn’t work). Read the full editorial. Unlike many other states, the governor of West Virginia…

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November 9, 2023 by Kelly Allen
Senate Finance Chairman Expresses Caution About Pay Raises for State Workers

West Virginia MetroNews - Gov. Jim Justice has suggested a 5% pay raise to offset rising insurance premium costs for public employees, but West Virginia’s Senate Finance chairman says officials will need to calculate how much state government can actually afford to spend. Read the full article. “You can’t just write checks and then not…

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