Taxes

To get a sense of a state’s values, one often need look no further than its tax system. What a state spends its tax dollars on and how it acquires those tax dollars typically reveals a lot about the priorities of its people—what they care about and what they stand for. In theory, it’s a…

Charleston Gazette-Mail - Legislative leadership appears poised to pass yet another round of corporate tax cuts that will hurt working families, our schools and colleges, and push more money out-of-state to large corporations. It doesn’t have to be this way. Lawmakers could instead put their efforts toward investing in our communities, our health, our education, and…

On September 30, 2019 Executive Director Ted Boettner presented to the West Virginia Association of Counties on the impact of exempting business personal property in West Virginia. View Presentation 

With the 2020 legislative session looming, now is as good a time as any to check in on one of the legislature's favorite proposals, eliminating the business personal property tax. Once again, the elimination of the tax is at the top of legislative priorities. And with state revenues stalling and budget cuts likely, the nearly…

With faltering revenue collections, Governor Justice has ordered a $100 million budget cut for the current budget year, with more cuts likely for the FY 2021 budget. And, as with past budget cuts, higher education appears to be a prime target. This is all happening on the heels of a new report from the Center…

Over the last decade or so, local governments entities in West Virginia have used a myriad of business property tax incentives to reward or induce local economic development projects. These can include tax increment financing or TIFs, lease agreements, tax credits (e.g. local B&O), issuing bonds to purchase property, and the use of Payment in…

A recent article in Vox by David Roberts highlights how a coal mining bust in Wyoming is resulting in "vulture capitalism" as investors buy up bankrupt coal mines while coal executives receive large bonuses and the communities in Wyoming struggle with thousands of laid off workers, lost pensions, environmental degradation, and an undiversified economy. This…

Lawmakers in Congress have recently announced five different proposals to either expand existing tax credits of create new ones. While each proposals has its differences, each one would also benefit low- and moderate-income people, particularly in West Virginia. Low- and middle-income West Virginians would see much greater benefits under any of the tax credit proposal…

Working families with low- and moderate-incomes often struggle to keep afloat  and many childless adults are often taxed into poverty. On April 10, 2019, Senators Sherrod Brown, Michael Bennet, Richard Durbin, and Ron Wyden introduced the “Working Families Tax Relief Act” that aims to expand both the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) as well as…

The State Supreme Court heard several cases earlier this month on oil and natural gas property taxes that could have a significant impact on local government and school district finances, and also potentially impact the state budget. At issue is how the State Tax Department calculates production expenses on natural gas wells. When valuing oil and…