MetroNews - Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled its tax overhaul bill Thursday, which includes decreasing the number of personal income tax brackets, cutting the corporate tax rate and the eventual elimination of the estate tax. Read.
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Charleston Gazette-Mail - Gov. Jim Justice said it's proof that the "tides are turning" in West Virginia. Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher called it "unprecedented." Rep. David McKinley said it will "spur tremendous economic growth in our communities." Read.
Beckley Register-Herald - On November 8, voters will have several constitutional amendments on the ballot spanning a wide range of issues. Most of them are controversial, but Amendment 2 is particularly concerning to many groups and organizations. Read the full article. Amendment 2, dubbed the Property Tax Modernization Amendment, gives the Legislature power to eliminate…
Last month, state lawmakers met in Charleston for a special session mostly to allocate funding for budget needs that were shorted when they passed the state budget in March. Of 15 bills passed, 12 dealt with appropriations and state spending, with lawmakers continuing a troubling trend of using one-time surplus funds to pay for ongoing, base budget costs.…
On Sunday, Gazette gossip columnist Phil Kabler pointed out that John Raese - a West Virginia Republican politician and owner of Greer Industries in Morgantown - "was No. 2 among the top 100 purchase card vendors in the state, making $12,998,945 off the state in 2012." The fact that Mr. Raese receives so much money from…
West Virginia's free community college bill continues to move through the legislature. While the bill in its current form is fairly limited in who it applies to, it is worth revisiting the question of what it would take to provide free tuition to all of West Virginia's in-state college students, and how that cost compares…
West Virginia joins states around the country in moving towards free higher education, with SB 284, the free community college bill supported by Governor Justice and Senate President Carmichael. The "WV Invest Grant" program would provide a grant offsetting tuition for eligible students who enroll in one of the state's two year colleges. The grant…
Today's Daily Mail reports on a study from the Marshall University Center for Business and Economic Research, warning that West Virginia's high tax burden on the natural gas industry could hurt the development of the natural gas industry. Reading carefully, one may notice a lot of "maybes" "mights" and "coulds" in the report's conclusions. Let's take a closer look,…
Nearly 130,000 West Virginia parents and other adults could get health insurance through an expansion of Medicaid to allow more working families to participate, as outlined in the law. Expansion promises to lower costs for hospitals that treat large numbers of patients without insurance, costs which now add up to more than $700 million in…
Charleston Gazette - West Virginia’s Legislature is moving forward with a costly and ineffective bill targeted at only the poorest West Virginians. ReadThe bill, SB 348, would create a three-county pilot program to begin drug-testing recipients of cash assistance. The costs of the drug screening would be deducted from the TANF recipients’ monthly check and…