Yesterday, Governor Jim Justice unveiled his long-awaited proposal to reduce the state personal income tax. As currently structured, it would raise West Virginia’s sales tax to 7.9 percent, making it the highest state sales tax in the country, and effectively making our combined state and local sales tax rate 8.4 percent, higher than that of any of our surrounding…
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In Sunday's Gazette-Mail, John E. Pauley, the executive director of the West Virginia Chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, wrote an op-ed making several dubious claims about the state of retirement security in West Virginia and about the proposed Voluntary Employee Retirement Accounts (VERA) program that is being supported by AARP. For…
Last week, the U.S. House passed a "farm bill" that for the first time in decades did not include food assistance or SNAP (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) for vulnerable children and families. This move came on the heels of an earlier version passed by the U.S. House in June that reduced SNAP…
This past Saturday at midnight, the West Virginia Legislature adjourned sine die after a long sixty days. Going into the session, the WVCBP team’s single largest goal was to protect the personal income tax, our state’s fairest tax and its largest source of revenue. We are thrilled to say that we, in coalition with many…
Happy Halloween! Defunding CHIP Would Hurt West Virginia's Working Families Health care benefits for thousands of West Virginia children could be cut if Congress fails to reauthorize the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Families could have to pay up to ten times more on average for health coverage. To learn more, and find out what…
On Monday, the WV Senate narrowly passed Senate Bill 528, which would make it easier for corporations in West Virginia to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees. This bill, based on model legislation prepared by ALEC, is similar, but far more expansive, than a house bill that passed out of House Industry and Labor…
One in four children in West Virginia lived in poverty in 2022, the second highest rate of any state in the country. With the state pursuing education reform focused on funneling taxpayer funding out of public schools and into the private sector via the Hope Scholarship, West Virginia's voucher program which is growing more expensive…
Every day in West Virginia, thousands of low-income families rely on public child care assistance. In 2011, the West Virginia Child Care Program – which is funded primarily through the federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and state matching funds – provided financial assistance to more than 24,000 children whose parents…
Good Health Policies that Made it Across the Finish Line I/DD Waiver Waitlist- SB 150, the FY 2021 budget bill, was finalized on the last day of the legislative session. The budget sets aside $19.8 million to clear the I/DD waiver waitlist to provide services to the 1,084 individuals currently on the waitlist. This victory…
To our readers: This week's issue of Budget Beat focuses heavily on the subject consuming all of us right now. While we take our usual policy-driven approach to the Coronavirus in these articles, please know that we all are keeping you and your loved ones in our thoughts, and hope that you all stay safe and…