Throughout the next couple of months, WVCBP staff will talk to dozens of organizations across the state about West Virginia’s fiscal condition: specifically how the state can fix its upcoming budget gap, estimated to be at least $300 million next year. Where do our budget dollars go in West Virginia? Where have cuts hit the…
Tax and Budget
Throughout the next couple of months, WVCBP staff will talk to dozens of organizations across the state about West Virginia's fiscal condition: specifically how the state can fix its upcoming budget gap, estimated to be at least $300 million next year. Who pays taxes in West Virginia? What makes up our tax base? To help…
Throughout the next couple of months, WVCBP staff will talk to dozens of organizations across the state about West Virginia's fiscal condition: specifically how the state can fix its upcoming budget gap, estimated to be at least $300 million next year. Who pays taxes in West Virginia? What makes up our tax base? To help…
Yesterday, the Tax Foundation released its 2017 State Business Tax Climate Index (SBTCI) that purports to show that West Virginia now has the 18th-best state business tax climate in the country, ranking better than any of our surrounding states. Policymakers and others should exercise caution in drawing any positive conclusions from the report since the…
Over the last two decades, states across the country have modernized their marijuana laws to reflect the growing evidence that doing so will help reduce criminal justice costs, help treat some medical conditions, and boost tax revenues and their state’s economy. As of 2016, four states and the District of Columbia have legalized the recreational…
Last week, Governor Tomblin issued a proclamation to call the legislature into a special session to address the state's impeding budget crisis on Monday. This announcement came on the heels of a recent downgrade in the state's bond rating from Standard & Poor's Rating Service. Due to a lack of consensus between the legislature (mostly the…
While some have blamed the state's budget crisis on the decline of coal severance taxes, declining natural gas severance taxes are also taking their toll. The decline in mineral extraction, along with a weak economy and major tax cuts phased in between 2006 and 2015, is the central driver of the state's weak revenue growth…
The state budget directly affects everyone living in West Virginia. It is the one law that makes state government function. It defines how we plan to use our resources to do the things together that cannot be done alone, such as creating good schools for our children, protecting the environment, making our communities safe, making…
When lawmakers reconvene this spring to address the state’s looming budget crisis, it is clear that West Virginia should take a balanced approach that includes additional revenue, rather than a cuts-only approach that threatens our state’s struggling economy. Our state’s worsening revenue situation isn’t due entirely to plunging energy prices. Rather, that situation exacerbates the…
On Tuesday, Governor Tomblin revised his estimates for the FY 2017 General Revenue Fund Budget. Since the legislature failed to pass the state budget during the regular session, the governor is expected to call a special session sometime this Spring to pass a budget for FY 2017. Altogether, the FY 2017 revised revenue estimates for the…