Beckley Register-Herald - In the U.S. today, 29 states have an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program designed to put cash back in the pockets of low-income families. With 23 percent of its workforce toiling in poverty wage jobs, West Virginia is not among those states. Read article. That’s a situation that the West Virginia Center…
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Public News Service - The controversial Rockwool heavy-industry project could get a big federal tax break designed for poor areas - despite being in one of West Virginia's richest counties. Read article. The Rockwool proposal for an insulation-manufacturing plant has drawn intense opposition from critics, who say it would bring industrial pollution to Jefferson County,…
Charleston Gazette - There were some rough and embarrassing moments in the last legislative session, but some good things came out of it. Read full op-ed. One that surprised me was the passage of Senate Bill 564, which raised the Medicaid eligibility threshold for pregnant women to 300 percent above the federal poverty level. The…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - Earlier this year, at a legislative breakfast in Charleston, representatives from two of West Virginia’s natural gas associations spoke about the economic benefits of the industry. Read full article. The state was prospering thanks to the oil and gas industry, said Charlie Burd, executive director of the Independent Oil and Gas Association of…
LocalDVM - On April 2nd of 2019, the average woman in America would finally be paid as much as a man was paid in the previous 12-month year. Read/watch. This is why Equal Pay Day is being recognized Tuesday. The West Virginia Center of Budget and Policy reports the state has the 3rd largest wage gap…
WV Metro News - In front of West Virginia coal miners, Gov. Jim Justice signed a bill lowering severance taxes on thermal or steam coal in West Virginia from five percent to three percent. Read full article. Justice had a signing ceremony Wednesday at the Harrison County Coal Company’s Harrison County Mine in Mannington, signing into…
Beckley Register-Herald - A bill to exempt Social Security income from state personal income tax will likely take effect next tax filing season – in the 2019 tax year. Read full article. House Bill 2001, sponsored by Del. Jason Harshbarger, R-Ritchie, passed during the legislative session, which ended March 9, and was sent to the governor…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - The House of Delegates on Friday passed a bill expanding health care coverage to low-income pregnant women. Read full article. Senate Bill 546 passed in the House with a 97-3 vote. Delegates Tom Fast, R-Fayette; Pat McGeehan, R-Hancock; and Marshall Wilson, R- Berkeley, voted against the bill. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Tom…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - Despite a surfeit of testimony indicating that a cut in the severance tax on steam coal will not have significant impact in making West Virginia coal price competitive with other states or with natural gas, the Senate Finance Committee advanced legislation to phase down the tax from 5 percent to 3 percent over…
West Virginia Metro News, Morgantown Dominion-Post - The Senate Finance Committee approved a stretched-out, slowed-down version of the bill to reduce the severance tax on steam coal from 5 percent to 3 percent. Read full article. The committee also approved one of the two House bills aimed at gathering money to cap orphaned oil and gas…