Charleston Gazette-Mail – A new report from Pew Charitable Trusts shows that revenue in a majority of states has recovered from the recession of 2008-09, although recoveries have varied widely, with revenue in 21 states still below the pre-recession peak year of 2007 when adjusted for inflation. Read
West Virginia’s tax revenue, as of the middle of 2015, was above 2007 — but barely, at 1.1 percent growth, and lagging below the national average of 5.6 percent, according to the report.
The Pew study found that, from the end of the recession through the end of 2012, West Virginia revenue collection recovered ahead of the national average — but that changed in 2013, when state revenue began a nearly two-year downturn.
Ted Boettner, executive director of the West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy, said that’s not surprising, as elimination of the sales tax on food and the business franchise tax, along with cuts in the corporate net tax converged with a downturn in coal production and plunging natural gas prices.”The tax cuts cost us $425 million a year, if not a lot more,” he said.
