WV Groups: Corporate Taxes Should Fund American Jobs, Families Plan

By Nadia Ramlagan, Public News Service

June 16, 2021

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Former West Virginia Lt. Gov. Jeff Kessler and the Huntington-based Service Employees International Union Local 1199 are among those voicing support for passage of President Joe Biden's American Jobs Plan, even as negotiations over the package stall in Washington.

Biden's initial $2.3 trillion proposal has come down to $1.7 trillion.

Ryan Frankenberry, state director of the West Virginia Working Families Party, said counterproposals that prioritize tax breaks for corporations or raise taxes on the middle class would harm communities.

"There are ways to pay for this including getting rid of the tax breaks and making sure that rich people pay their share," he said. "We also think that it's important that we don't gut funding for our essential workers."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he'll begin the process for approving an infrastructure bill through budget resolution. However, a Democrats-only bill seems unlikely as the sole holdout, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has said he wants to pass a proposal with bipartisan support.

In addition to providing federal funds to repair West Virginia's outdated roads, bridges and transit, the infrastructure plan also would make investments in the state's care economy. Frankenberry said he thinks policies such as federal paid leave, outlined in Biden's $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, would have an immediate impact on working families.

"There are tons of families and individuals in the state who are making decisions about the way that they care for elderly family members and aren't in the workforce because of that," he said. "Same with child care."

The American Families Plan also would expand tax cuts for lower- to middle-income households with children, including the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, and Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.

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