West Virginia needs more private sector jobs
MORGANTOWN — Bill Maloney today continued his call for major reforms to West Virginia’s tax and legal systems to help small businesses create jobs. According to the Small Business Administration’s West Virginia 2011 Profile, small business accounted for more than 95% of the state’s employers. Small business owners from around the state are voicing their support for these much needed changes. And a new report shows that most of the few jobs that have been created in West Virginia in the last year have been government jobs.
“Hundreds of thousands of West Virginians own or work for small businesses. These are the people we need to be helping if we want to create more jobs in West Virginia,” said Bill Maloney. “Career politicians picking winners and losers in private business will not create the good paying jobs that West Virginia families deserve. We need to fix our broken tax and legal systems to help everyone, especially small businesses.”
“Small businesses get left behind when it comes to tax breaks as well as suffer the brunt of regulatory policy. It feels like bigger businesses have a way out when they go through tough times and there is no one there to help us. West Virginia is in serious need of tax reforms that work across the board, and a state government that stands behind all of its businesses.”
Shaun Adkins, Badger Lumber (Logan, WV)
“My partner and I started our business from scratch. An entourage from the government never came to see what they could do to help my business. When someone from the government comes to my door, they usually have their hand out or their finger pointing at me.”
Dana Samples, Kids First Furniture (Milton, WV)
“In any given year, whether we make a profit or suffer losses, we are still subject to certain property and B&O taxes. If you add that in with our high insurance costs due to the need for serious legal and tort reform, West Virginia is just a hard place to do business in. The backbone of any thriving economy is small business and right now West Virginia ranks 50th for small business start-ups. We must change the business climate in our state if we want to prosper. Our political officials in Charleston should work on making West Virginia a state that fosters new businesses large and small, not give tax breaks to a select few!”
John C. Casey, Fox Engineering (Ripley, WV)
While some were bragging earlier this year about being ranked high in job creation, the same report that was cited now shows that West Virginia is 23rd in the country in creating jobs. Of the few jobs that were created, thousands of them were government jobs. West Virginia was ranked 38th in the number of private sector jobs created in West Virginia from April 2011 until April 2012, while our state was ranked 4th for the number of government jobs created.
Maloney concluded by saying, “We need real leadership in Charleston that will level the playing field for job creators by fixing our tax code and cleaning up our courts. I will do that as your Governor.”
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