A number of proposals have been made this legislative session with the perceived aim to help revitalize West Virginia's coal industry. Two such proposals have been to eliminate or scale back the additional severance tax on coal that is dedicated to paying down the state's workers' compensation system debt. But, despite assurances the tax cut wouldn't…
Tax and Budget
This evening the State Senate passed a bill that would make significant changes to our state's campaign election laws by increasing the amount of money people can contribute to political campaigns. Under Senate Bill 541, the cap for campaign individual contributions would increase from $1,000 to $2,700 per election cycle, matching the amount that federal…
On Tuesday, Governor Tomblin announced at a bi-partisan press conference that he is proposing to transfer $44 million from the teacher's retirement account (TERS) to help close an estimated $195 million gap in the FY 2016 state budget.The state is able to use the $44 million from TERS, according to the governor, because the investment returns…
At the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy's 2nd Annual Budget Breakfast, Executive Director Ted Boettner recapped Governor Tomblin's proposed Fiscal Year 2016 state budget and the impact it will have on West Virginia's low- and moderate-income working families. View his presentation here.
Yesterday, Governor Tomblin announced that the business franchise tax will be fully eliminated beginning tomorrow (Jan 1). While the governor says the elimination of the business franchise tax and the reduction in the corporate net income tax has helped to "secure additional investments" and that the state has benefited from these changes, there is no…
Earlier this week, the state's monthly revenue report was released, which keeps track of the various taxes that make up the state's General Revenue Fund. For October, the General Revenue Fund was up $5 million over the estimate, a pretty good month. This was largely due to severance taxes, which came in at $38.1 million…
On March 23, Governor Tomblin used his line-item veto power to cut several early childhood and domestic violence programs from the FY2015 budget passed by the legislature. This included over $1 million in cuts to In-Home Family Education, Family Resource Networks and Starting Points Family Resource Centers, Child Advocacy Centers, domestic violence programs and services,…
The Legislature passed 201 bills during the 2014 Legislative Session. 51 of those bills came with fiscal notes attached, the price tags attached to legislation that inform legislators and the public of the estimated cost to the state in either expenditure increases or revenue losses. Fiscal notes are usually attached to a bill when taxes or fees are…
With the 2014 Legislative Session ending without the completion of the FY 2015 budget, Governor Tomblin has called the legislature back into a special session. The House and the Senate have their own budget bills, as does the governor. All three must be reconciled into one bill before the budget can be finalized. Read PDF…
Yesterday, the House Judiciary and Finance Committees both amended and passed out Senate Bill 461 and Senate Joint Resolution 14 that creates the West Virginia Future Fund. The amendments made several modifications to how much revenue will flow into the fund over time, how the principal of the fund is protected, and how the state…