Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

West Virginia

Extending Temporary Provisions of the 2017 Trump Tax Law: Updated National and State-by-State Estimates

The TCJA Permanency Act would make permanent the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that are set to expire at the end of 2025. The legislation would disproportionately benefit the richest Americans. Below are graphics for each state that show the effects of making TCJA permanent across income groups. See ITEP’s […]

State Rundown 9/5: Property Tax Policy Continues to Make Headlines

Property tax bills are undeniably a concern for many low- and moderate-income households across the nation...

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Tax Payments by Undocumented Immigrants

July 30, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

Tax Payments by Undocumented Immigrants

Undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022. Providing access to work authorization for undocumented immigrants would increase their tax contributions both because their wages would rise and because their rates of tax compliance would increase.

Five Tax Takeaways from 2024 State Legislative Sessions 

Major tax cuts were largely rejected this year, but states continue to chip away at income taxes. And while property tax cuts were a hot topic across the country, many states failed to deliver effective solutions to affordability issues.

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Improving Refundable Tax Credits by Making Them Immigrant-Inclusive

July 17, 2024 • By Emma Sifre, Marco Guzman

Improving Refundable Tax Credits by Making Them Immigrant-Inclusive

Undocumented immigrants who work and pay taxes but don't have a valid Social Security number for either themselves or their children are excluded from federal EITC and CTC benefits. Fortunately, several states have stepped in to ensure undocumented immigrants are not left behind by the gaps in the federal EITC and CTC. State lawmakers should continue to ensure that immigrants who are otherwise eligible for these tax credits receive them.

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State Rundown 7/11: Mansion Taxes in the Spotlight

July 11, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

State Rundown 7/11: Mansion Taxes in the Spotlight

While Massachusetts legislators recently dropped a real estate transfer tax from their major housing bill, the District of Columbia council sent a budget to the mayor that includes a mansion tax that would increase the tax rate on properties valued over $2.5 million. Meanwhile, lawmakers in New Jersey and South Carolina continue to, respectively, raise and reduce needed revenues.

Reality Interrupts the Fever Dream of Income Tax Elimination in Kentucky

Keeping the Kentucky income tax on a march to zero would mean tax hikes for working families or widespread cuts to education, health care, and other public services. Reversing course is certainly the wiser course of action.

States Should Enact, Expand Mansion Taxes to Advance Fairness and Shared Prosperity

The report was produced in partnership with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and co-authored by CBPP’s Deputy Director of State Policy Research Samantha Waxman.[1] Click here to use our State Mansion Tax Estimator A historically large share of the nation’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, a reality glaring in […]

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State Rundown 6/6: A Tale of Two Tax Laws

June 6, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

State Rundown 6/6: A Tale of Two Tax Laws

This week, it was the best of times or, in some cases, the worst of times for tax policy in two different states...

State Rundown 5/22: When One Legislative Session Closes, Another Opens

State legislatures are wrapping up, but don’t stray too far from your state capital or you’ll miss out on the action...

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State Rundown 5/9: Special Sessions in the Air

May 9, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

State Rundown 5/9: Special Sessions in the Air

This week, special sessions with major tax implications are in the air...

State Rundown 3/28: Tax Cut Madness, But Our Brackets Bet on Tax Fairness

While madness is typically reserved for basketball in March, several high-profile, regressive tax cuts are making their way through state legislatures this week...

Eliminating Income Taxes Would Be an Expensive Giveaway

Governors and legislative leaders in a dozen states have made calls to fully eliminate their taxes on personal or corporate income, after many states already deeply slashed them over the past few years. The public deserves to know the true impact of these plans, which would inevitably result in an outsized windfall to states’ richest taxpayers, more power in the hands of wealthy households and corporations, extreme cuts to basic public services, and more deeply inequitable state tax codes.

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State Rundown 3/14: Sessions are Heating Up

March 14, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

State Rundown 3/14: Sessions are Heating Up

Many state legislative sessions are in the final stretch...

State Rundown 2/28: States Keep Busy While Washington Stalls

State legislative sessions are in full swing with New Jersey and Oklahoma both particularly active this week...

State Rundown 2/8: Flowers, Chocolates, and Tax Cuts for the Wealthy?

While we were hoping to get progressive tax policy wins for Valentine’s Day, many state lawmakers have another idea in mind...

State Tax Watch 2024

January 23, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

State Tax Watch 2024

Updated July 15, 2024 In 2024, state lawmakers have a choice: advance tax policy that improves equity and helps communities thrive, or push tax policies that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, drain funding for critical public services, and make it harder for low-income and working families to get ahead. Despite worsening state fiscal conditions, we expect […]

State Rundown 1/18: State Tax Priorities Taking Shape in 2024

Tax policy themes have begun to crop up in states as governors give their yearly addresses and legislators lay out their plans for the 2024 legislative season...

West Virginia: Who Pays? 7th Edition

January 9, 2024 • By ITEP Staff

West Virginia: Who Pays? 7th Edition

West Virginia Download PDF All figures and charts show 2024 tax law in West Virginia, presented at 2023 income levels. Senior taxpayers are excluded for reasons detailed in the methodology. Our analysis includes nearly all (99.3 percent) state and local tax revenue collected in West Virginia. These figures depict West Virginia’s personal income tax at […]

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State Rundown 12/14: Tax Policy Debates Ramp Up for 2024

December 14, 2023 • By ITEP Staff

State Rundown 12/14: Tax Policy Debates Ramp Up for 2024

Even as revenue collections slow in many states, some are starting the push for 2024 tax cuts early. For instance, policymakers in Georgia and Utah are already making the case for deeper income tax cuts. Meanwhile, Arizona lawmakers are now facing a significant deficit, the consequence of their recent top-heavy tax cuts. There is another […]

Hidden in Plain Sight: Race and Tax Policy in 2023 State Legislative Sessions

Race was front and center in a lot of state policy debates this year, from battles over what’s being taught in schools to disagreements over new voting laws. Less visible, but also extremely important, were the racial implications of tax policy changes. What states accomplished this year – both good and bad – will acutely affect people and families of color.

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Abortion-Restricting States Skimp on Funding for Children

November 9, 2023 • By Amy Hanauer

Abortion-Restricting States Skimp on Funding for Children

States differ dramatically in how much they allow families to make choices about whether and when to have children and how much support they provide when families do. But there is a clear pattern: the states that compel childbirth spend less to help children once they are born.

Far From Radical: State Corporate Income Taxes Already Often Look Beyond the Water’s Edge

State lawmakers are increasingly interested in reforming their corporate tax bases to start from a comprehensive measure of worldwide profit. This provides a more accurate, and less gameable, starting point for calculating profits subject to state corporate tax. Mandating this kind of filing system, known as worldwide combined reporting (WWCR), would be transformative, as it would all but eliminate state corporate tax avoidance done through the artificial shifting of profits into low-tax countries.

State Rundown 8/10: Pump the ‘Breaks’ on Sales Tax Holiday Celebrations

August is here, school is starting, and with that comes back to school shopping...

Sales tax holidays are bad policies that have too often been used as a substitute for more meaningful, permanent reform.