Just a month into peak flu season, the CDC has already declared a national epidemic due to the flu's widespread activity and the deadly nature of this year's virus. West Virginia is no exception. The outbreak is considered widespread across our state, as you can see from the the map below. While preventing the spread of the…
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Charleston Gazette-Mail - A coalition of 18 citizen and community organizations kicked off a campaign Monday for passage of a state Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income workers, unveiling a website that shows the economic impact of the credit, by legislative districts. ReadSeth DiStefano, with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, said the…
Beckley Register-Herald - Proponents of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) unveiled a new tool Monday to help lawmakers see what the credit would do in their districts. ReadThe invest in Working Families Coalition launched the interactive web site www.investinwvfamilies.org, during a press conference at the Capitol. The site allows users to search the state…
While the last post found that state income taxes have little or no impact on interstate migration, there is also little evidence that slashing or eliminating the personal income tax is a surefire way to boost economic growth in the Mountain State. Most of the states that have followed this path recently have not experienced…
Earlier this month, Kentucky announced it would be joining West Virginia and 19 other states in expanding Medicaid as part of the Affordable Care Act. Kentucky, however, had stronger evidence to support its decision than West Virginia. While West Virginia estimated expansion would cost the state around $375 million over the first 10 years, Kentucky looked…
Budget Beat for June 7, 2013 Evidence Counts - the WVCBP blog Income inequality and the decline of the middle class were the subject of Ted's blog post this week. To see the direction West Virginia has gone, look no further than the state's top employer, once Weirton Steel, now Wal-Mart. With the shift in…
Small business is often considered the foundation of local economies, which means a recent report about the Affordable Care Act may be real good news for West Virginia. The report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the number of self-employed people in West Virginia will rise by 13 percent, or 6,000 people, after…
The annual open enrollment period for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, began on November 1stand continues through December 15th. This is a great time for folks who don’t get insurance through a job, Medicare or Medicaid to shop for health coverage at www.healthcare.gov. The Affordable Care Act and the…
This afternoon, the Governor's Office sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) chief, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, regarding the Affordable Care Act in West Virginia. In the letter dated July 15, Governor Tomblin requests "prompt answers to several questions concerning implementation of the ." (See the letter here) The majority of…
When lawmakers make sentences longer, West Virginians pay twice – first, at the local level through higher jail bills paid by the county, then again at the state level through increased prison costs. If a person is convicted and sentenced to prison, each additional year in prison costs the state $35,452 per person. But higher…