John Doyle speculates on how to make a flat tax adaptable so that it doesn’t take a sizable chunk of a worker’s earnings from they need to pay for critical everyday expenses. Maybe set a threshold below which the flat tax is exempt? Ideally that would be something like the prevailing poverty rate. Above that you pay tax, below it you don’t. John goes on to consider the likelihood of such an adaptable tax passing the Republican legislature.
An update on the continuing misadventure of Sidewinder to have its way with Middleway and Jefferson County. The Planning Commission put up a strong defense and denied the company’s proposal, for which our thanks. Days later, a judge provisionally affirmed the Commission’s decision.
John Doyle weighs in on the issue of unproductive and uncapped gas and oil wells in West Virginia–more than 12,000 to date with more on the way. It’s supposed to be the responsibility of the drillers to plug them when they’re abandoned, but the drillers resist. The Governor’s agreement with one of the offending companies only draws out a serious problem, it doesn’t solve it.