West Virginia has a rich history of attracting global companies. Over the years, corporate titans such as Amazon, Macy’ s and Procter & Gamble have set up major operations around the Mountain State, creating thousands of jobs and diversifying the economy. West Virginia has many advantages that attract small companies— which make up more than 98 percent of businesses in the state— as well as major corporations. Those advantages include pro-growth tax reforms, workers’ compensation savings, a low cost of doing business, a quality labor force and a prime location.
Pro-Growth Tax Reforms
One of those advantages was the state’ s elimination of its business franchise tax in 2015, saving taxpayers more than $ 450 million from the first reduction to the final elimination. The state’ s corporate net income tax rate was reduced to 6.5 percent in 2014, helping corporations realize more than $ 53 million per year in net annual tax savings. West Virginia also removed approximately $ 180 million of business tax burden in Fiscal Year 2014 and more than $ 660 million over the past eight years. More importantly, West Virginia has not added any new business taxes in the last 20 years.
Workers’ Compensation Savings
Thanks to aggressive pro-business legislation, West Virginia has some of the lowest workers’ compensation rates in the country. In fact, the state recently announced another reduction in workers’ compensation rates, which has collectively saved employers more than $ 352 million since the fund was
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Low Cost of Doing Business
The Mountain State also has a low cost of doing business and a track record of fiscal responsibility. West Virginia’ s cost of doing business is among the lowest in the country and ranked seventh best in the cost of doing business category on CNBC’ s America’ s Top States for Business 2015 list.
Quality Labor Force
West Virginia workers offer a high work ethic and low turnover rate. Additionally, the Mountain State offers business and industry the opportunity to partner with the community and technical college system to develop specialized education and training programs. Over the last decade, West Virginia’ s community and technical colleges have created nearly 150 new customer training programs, many in partnership with local companies and business investors.
Prime Location
Located in the heart of Appalachia, West Virginia offers access to major metropolitan areas, including New York City, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Raleigh, Columbus, Chicago, Lexington, Atlanta and Washington, DC— without the big city inconveniences. West Virginia’ s location puts business and industry within an eight-hour driving distance to half of the U. S. population and a third of the Canadian market. This prime location, coupled with the state’ s connections, makes global access easy in West Virginia.
Big Wins for West Virginia
Since the start of 2017, more than $ 1.5 billion has been invested in the state’ s economy through business attraction and expansion. During this same period, more than 4,771 jobs were created or retained.
Among those investments, the Mountain State achieved some commendable successes, specifically in the energy and manufacturing sectors. West Virginia has been able to attract global leaders such as ROCKWOOL and US Methanol. The West Virginia Development Office has also built on its successes with the retention and continued expansions of Addivant, Armacell, Hino Motors Manufacturing USA and Solvay Technology Solutions.
Bidell Gas Compression First U. S. Manufacturing Operation
At the beginning of February 2017, Bidell Gas Compression decided to make Weirton, WV, the home of its first manufacturing operation in the U. S. Bidell, a subsidiary of the Canadian company Total Energy Services Inc., chose the Mountain State because of its central location to the Marcellus and Utica shales’ regional market. The company will fabricate, sell, lease and service natural gas compression equipment to customers operating throughout North America and the world.
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