YOUR PAY RAISE WILL HELP YOU ALONG IN '05

(01/12/2005)

Hopefully most folks have gotten a pay raise in 2005 to take care of the nagging increases in insurance premiums, home heating (up 50%), water bills and gasoline. Hopefully you won't irritate your insurance carrier with late payements, with companies continuing to get apporoval from the WV legislature for "easy drop" status. Life is pretty good if you pay up, but it is getting harder. A new sticker will soon be pasted on West Virginia gas pumps, advising gasoline customers they will be paying at least two cents more tax per gallon. That means WV customers will be paying about 45 cents a gallon in state and federal taxes for "low-test" unleaded. Mark Muchow, fiscal policy director for the state Tax Department, said it is only the second time in a decade state tax went up on gasoline. Still, West Virginia has the highest gasoline tax of nearly all the surrounding states, which means state residents living along the border go across the state line to fill up, much like Parkersburg residents go to Belpre.

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