We at the WVCBP are closely monitoring the evolving federal budget process and its potential impact on critical programs like Medicaid and SNAP. House leadership recently delayed key committee markups on the budget package, including in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. These markups are now expected next week, the week of May 12. That…
Search Results
A weak September for General Revenue collections underscored the heavy price of 2023ās tax cuts on the stateās budget and should serve as a warning against Governor Justice and lawmakers moving ahead with even deeper cuts to revenue. Weak September Numbers September General Revenue collections totaled $567.7 million, which is $104.4 million below September 2023ās collections, marking…
On Saturday, August 3, 2024, a Harrison County sheriffās deputy arrested Marissa Crim in downtown Clarksburg. In a criminal complaint filed that day, the deputy wrote that he saw Ms. Crim make an improper turn in a car with a registration that had expired in June. After stopping her car, the deputy learned Ms. Crimās…
As the date rolls closer for the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act and in the same week that the U.S. House of Representatives voted for the thirty-odd time to repeal the law, the Wheeling Intelligencer reported on a doctor forced to close his doors due to Obamacare. The reason given is that the…
As the Gazette reported on Wednesday, the WV Department of Highways is pushing a bill to study the feasibility of replacing or supplementing the motor fuel tax with a vehicle miles traveled (VMT)Ā tax to help address the declining State Road Fund revenue which is partly due to more fuel efficient vehicles. The VMT tax…
Yesterday, Governor Jim JusticeĀ unveiledĀ his long-awaited proposal to reduce the state personal income tax. As currently structured, it would raise West Virginiaās 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,Ā higherĀ than that of any of our surrounding…
Several years ago, West Virginia enacted a series of large business tax cuts with the belief that they would help grow the stateās economy. Today policymakers are promoting that same theory, even though the previous tax cuts have largely failed to put West Virginia on a path to prosperity, with the state losing thousands of…
HB 2014, Governor Morriseyās āCertified Microgrid Programā legislation, remains under consideration by the West Virginia Legislature. The bill would take local control from counties and municipalities to enforce their own ordinances while diverting millions in property tax dollars generated from High Imact Data Centers. Instead of staying in the community to fund schools, public safety, and other local public…
Some lawmakers are claiming West Virginiaās prevailing wage overpays construction workers and inflates the costs of public construction projects, but the evidence does not support these claims. Ending the stateās prevailing wage is likely to have no impact on public construction costs but could hurt the living standards of construction workers and the competitiveness of…
For Immediate Release: January 19, 2024 Contact:Ā Kelly Allen, (304)-612-4180 Charleston, WV ā The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy (WVCBP), an independent research and advocacy organization working to advance public policies that increase opportunity and eliminate inequities for children and families, announces that it will be serving as the KIDS COUNTĀ® partner for the state of West…