WDTV.com - The West Virginia Tax Reform Committee recently heard a recommendation to eliminate personal property tax, mainly to attract more businesses to our state. But would this actually work? And where would the money without that tax come from? 5 News talked to economists, senators, and locals to hear all sides and see how…
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Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram - The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy has released a study suggesting that raising the state's severance tax on natural gas liquids could increase revenue and help West Virginia profit from the use of the "wet gas" in-state. ReadAccording to the study, a plan to increase the gas severance tax from…
Charleston Gazette - While West Virginia's southern coalfields suffer economic agony, the Marcellus and Utica shale gas boom has spurred prosperity in northern counties, offsetting some of the misery. ReadMany new hotels and motels are being built around the Northern Panhandle to house out-of-state drillers, the Wheeling Intelligencer and News-Register says. As a result, the…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - By all accounts, Gestamp's South Charleston plant is a smash hit. ReadThe auto parts manufacturer rolled into town in 2012, lured by a refurbished building and a mountain of loans, tax breaks and incentives.Ignacio Pipio, plant director, said the factory has the equivalent of 400 full-time employees, has invested a total of…
Wheeling Intelligencer - A West Virginia think tank believes state leaders should increase severance tax rates for ethane and other natural gas liquids to discourage them from fueling out-of-state petrochemical projects, such as the proposed $5.7 billion PTT Global Chemical cracker in Belmont County. ReadHowever, West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association Executive Director Corky…
Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram - Natural gas production has taken off in the region over the last seven years, but questions remain about how to ensure West Virginia residents see as much economic benefit as possible from the abundant resources buried underfoot. ReadOfficials have pointed to downstream chemical manufacturing processes as having the potential to transform locally…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy has released a study suggesting that raising the state's severance tax on natural gas liquids could increase revenue and help West Virginia profit from the use of the liquids in state. ReadThe study, which was released by the center on Wednesday, lays out a…
Charleston Gazette - Mail - Kanawha County's 17 percent poverty rate in 2014 was the highest it has been in the last decade, with the exception of 2011, when 17.2 percent of county residents were living in poverty, according to the latest data released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week. ReadThe finding is one…
Beckley Register-Herald - In August the federal government announced West Virginia has the lowest civilian workforce participation, on Tuesday it was learned the state has a 7.6 unemployment rate, the nation's highest. ReadThen on Thursday the bad economic news continued. A report shows nearly 20 percent of West Virginians live in poverty and more alarming…
WDTV - Our state has seen one of the biggest drops in the number of people without health insurance in the country. 5 News found out what this means for people who weren't previously insured and why some of us still aren't. Read/WatchAlmost 100,000 West Virginians have gotten health insurance in one year. This is…