In the last post, I gave an overview of West Virginia's personal income tax and how it is an important and progressive way to fund state investments in K-12 education, higher education, and other important public structures. In this post, I want to tackle misleading information surrounding the argument to cut or abolish state personal…
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Monday, the Joint Select Committee on Tax Reform met again to continue the discussion of the proposed overhaul of West Virginia's tax system. The committee heard from economists from WVU and Marshall University, as well as representatives from the conservative Tax Foundation, the Council on State Taxation, and the National Conference of State Legislatures. The…
Last week, the newly created Joint Select Committee on Tax Reform held its second meeting to discuss overhauling the state's tax system. While the meeting included an overview of the state's current tax system and historical tax reform efforts of the past (e.g. Cecil Underwood's Commission on Fair Taxation), committee members made it quite clear in April…
Price of Higher Education About to Go Up?West Virginia families sending their kids to in-state colleges and universities could take another hit according to today's Charleston Gazette. West Virginia University is considering a nearly 10 percent increase in tuition which has already increased 29 percent over the past five years. Last week, West Virginia State…
Next week the Joint Select Committee on Tax Reform will meet again to continue the discussion on overhauling the state's tax system. When they last met, the Committee sent strong signals that more business tax cuts would be the top priority, despite their recent failure to create jobs in West Virginia and the subsequent budget…
Tax Reform Continues to Make HeadlinesOn May 4, the Joint Select Committee on Tax Reform will hold its second meeting to look at how to "update" the state's tax system. So far committee members have floated around some hefty suggestions, like eliminating the Personal Income Tax and further reducing business taxes. Suggestions for how to…
Legislature Gives Glimpse Into its Ideas for Tax ReformTax Reform Committee Holds First MeetingIt's been a taxing week, so to speak, between April 15 and the first meeting of the Joint Senate Select Committee on Tax Reform on Monday.The meeting was the public's first chance to get a glimpse into the new Republican leadership's ideas…
Yesterday, the Joint Select Committee on Tax Reform met for the first time to start laying out the plan for comprehensive tax reform in West Virginia. Citing ALEC's dubious Rich States/Poor States report, Senate President Bill Cole and House Speaker Tim Armstead said that West Virginia's tax structure is broken and burdensome, and is holding…
With tax reform looming on the state's public policy agenda, now would be a opportune time to revisit the state's Excess Acreage Tax. Since 1905, a corporation purchasing 10,000 acres or more of property in the state is subject to a one-time five cents per acre tax on owning the property. In 1999, Governor Underwood's…
It has been over seven years since the beginning of the Great Recession. While the country is finally beginning to recover from the biggest recession since the Great Depression, West Virginia's rocky recovery has yet to fully materialize. In fact, over the last couple of years the state's job growth has been non-existent. At the…