There have been a number of tax proposals this legislative session, the two that have gained the most traction are the proposals to increase the sales tax from 6% to 7% for highway funding, and increasing the tobacco tax from $0.55 to $1.55 per pack of cigarettes. While the state needs revenue both for fixing its…
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Earlier this week, a bill began moving to increase revenue for the State Road Fund. Senate Bill 555 includes a number of provisions, some included in the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission report, that raise revenue for road work in West Virginia. The bill is on 3rd reading today.In its original form, SB 555 increased the gas tax…
After hearing from the coal industry about their desire for cut in the severance tax, SB 705 was quickly introduced and sped through the Senate Finance Committee on Monday, and is already on 2nd reading in the Senate today. In its current form, the bill cuts the severance tax on coal from 5% to 4%…
This week, the House of Delegates will consider a bill (HB 2704) that will extend the state's sales and use tax to more services in conjunction with lowering the sales tax rate. HB 2704 would remove several services currently exempted in West Virginia's sales tax, including services provided by lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers, investment counselors,…
Perils of Calling a Constitutional ConventionThis week the Senate passed SCR 10 which would add West Virginia to the states supporting the call for a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution. The House is considering a variety of bills and resolutions of its own including HB 4449, HB 2424 and HCR 36.The House Judiciary Committee…
As Ted and I explained in our report on the FY 2017 budget, there are a number of steps the governor is requesting the legislature to take in order to both close the FY 2016 budget gap of $381 million and the FY 2017 budget gap of $466 million. Here's an update of where the…
The House Judiciary Committee is likely to take up a dangerous resolution – House Concurrent Resolution 36 - that calls for a constitutional convention of states to propose a balance budget amendment (BBA) to the U.S. Constitution. As I discussed earlier, there are no established ground rules for how this would transpire and it could…
This afternoon the West Virginia Senate approved Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 10, a resolution calling for a convention of states to amend the U.S. Constitution. Under Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution, upon application of two-thirds of the states, Congress must convene a convention to amend the Constitution. While the U.S. Constitution has been amended…
The Senate and the House have introduced bills (SB 312 & HB 4454) that aim to make it harder for low-income people in West Virginia to receive public assistance benefits (such as SNAP, TANF and Medicaid), while potentially draining millions from the state's economy and denying benefits to those in need. Dubbed the "Welfare Fraud…
The West Virginia Coal Association released a report this week on the supposed economic impact of its proposed severance tax cut for coal. The Coal Association is pushing a cut in the state severance tax on coal from its current rate of 5% to 2%. I've talked before about how that is a pretty terrible…