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West Virginia taxes its poorest families, among the highest in America, according to a
report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Taxing the incomes of
working-poor families runs counter to the efforts by policy makers across the political
spectrum to provide more assistance to families seeking to work their way out of
poverty," according to the report.
Families must earn less than $10,000 in West Virginia not to be taxed, much lower
than the federal poverty level of $18,104 income. Poor families under the poverty
level paid $306 in taxes in West Virginia, but in Kentucky the amount was worse at
$596.
Welfare-to-work programs, under such taxation, places minimum wage job holders at
risk. In West Virginia, the government re-instated the 6% sales tax on food, an
additional problem for poverty families who are charged with finding a job, including
single parent mothers.
Millions of dollars has been placed in Workforce Investment Act programs in West
Virginia, but the money seems to focus on training people for jobs that do not exist in
communities. or once the jobs are made available and help is given, the low-income
worker is hammered with taxes they cannot afford at the poverty level.
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