Charleston Gazette-Mail – Some of West Virginia’s political leaders want to abolish the state income tax. One has even said doing so would help bring 400,000 new people to live in West Virginia. Read the full article.
If memory serves, some of the same people predicted that abolishing the state’s prevailing wage for workers on public building projects would save the state $200 million to $300 million a year.
That didn’t happen. In fact, a study released in 2019, albeit from a pro-labor source, found it lowered wages for construction workers, worsened workplace safety and substantially reduced the number of young people in apprentice programs that would set them on a path to lifetime economic security. There wasn’t evidence of savings for the state either.
I think the latest prophecy might meet a similar fate.