On October 1, the West Virginia Tax Department issued guidelines and outlined intentions to start collecting sales taxes from remote internet retailers on January 1, 2019. As Charleston Gazette-Mail reporter Phil Kabler recently noted, this was a sharp policy shift. Nearly four months ago, Governor Justice proclaimed he had no intentions to allow the state to collect online sales taxes and that,…
Tax and Budget
On October 30, 2018, Executive Director Ted Boettner presented at the 69th Annual Meeting of the West Virginia Tax Institute in Morgantown, WV on the advantages and disadvantages of business tax incentives. Read presentation.
State and local tax systems can be effectively used to boost economic opportunity, create broadly shared prosperity and build equitable state economies. But in most states, including West Virginia, tax systems are upside down and are making inequality worse, as a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows. The ITEP report examines the state…
The lowest-income West Virginians pay 21 percent more in taxes as a percent of their income compared to the state's wealthiest residents, according to a new study released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. The study, Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in…
West Virginia's inadequate public investment in higher education over the last decade has contributed to rising tuition prices, often leaving students with little choice but to take on more debt or give up on their dreams of going to college, according to a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report released today. The problem is especially serious…
A decade since the Great Recession, state spending on higher education has yet to recover from years of deep cuts, including in West Virginia, according to a new report released today from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. West Virginia was one of 45 states that spent less per student in the 2018 school year than in 2008.…
House Republicans and President Trump are hoping to pass a second-round federal tax cuts that are aimed at giving more money to those that have the most while jeopardizing funding for critical programs, such as Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare and education. Last week, the House Ways And Means Committee advanced what they are calling “Tax Reform 2.0”. The center-piece…
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for states to collect sales taxes from online retailers that lack a “physical presence” in a state. This was a huge victory for state and local governments, local retailers, and tax fairness. This ruling overturned a famous prior Supreme Court decision that stopped states from collecting sales tax…
The West Virginia State Chamber of Commerce released an analysis of education spending in West Virginia, in light of the recent teacher strike over low pay and benefits. The report, subtitled "An Overview of Teacher Pay and Benefits, and Student Achievement," contends that West Virginia is one of the top spenders per pupil on education, with an…
In recent years, both public health advocates and policymakers looking for new revenue for public programs and ways to improve health outcomes have focused on a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) or “soda tax.” Read PDF of report. Numerous research studies have linked the excessive consumption of soda and other sugary drinks to the nation’s epidemic of…