Property Taxes Story Archives - Page 2 of 2 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Justice Floats Rebate Plan On Vehicle Tax

Gov. Jim Justice is actively campaigning against Amendment 2 around the state and has now said he is working on a new plan to eliminate the state vehicle tax without the constitutional amendment.

Republicans in the West Virginia Legislature are promoting Amendment 2 to the state constitution. If passed, it would allow them to change or eliminate property taxes in the state. One tax they propose to eliminate is the state vehicle tax.

Gov. Jim Justice is actively campaigning against Amendment 2 around the state and has now said he is working on a new plan to eliminate the state vehicle tax without the constitutional amendment.

In his Thursday coronavirus media briefing, Justice said he’s working on a way for vehicle tax relief without a constitutional change — by possibly offering a taxpayer rebate.

”I’m not sure exactly right now how to do it,” Justice said. “Our revenue people are working on a methodology and a way to do it. Am I for getting rid of the car tax, absolutely.”

Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, has said he appreciates the governor’s call to eliminate the state vehicle tax, but added that Amendment 2 needs to pass for legislators to constitutionally consider the tax cut. He responded to the rebate plan by accusing Justice of creating more government.

“For a person who is going around the state saying the Senate wants to put all of the control in Charleston, his plan sure sounds like a heavy dose of top-down Charleston control,” Blair said. “We don’t need to put the burden on our own taxpayers to fill out additional red tape and wait around for Charleston to send them back their money.”

Legislative leadership also wants to use Amendment 2 to remove the business and inventory tax. Justice said removing that tax would cripple county government schools and services.

Justice also said in the briefing that if Amendment 2 fails, he would work with legislators on a compromise amendment going forward.

House Speaker: 'No Idea' Why Amendment 2 Is Controversial

In the tax reform battle between West Virginia’s governor and Senate president, the speaker of the House of Delegates has remained largely silent. Until now.

The 58th Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates, Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, supports passing Amendment 2. He said the constitutional provision is antiquated and needs revision.

“The provision of our state constitution, that’s at issue in Amendment 2, comes from the antebellum Civil War era of Virginia. We don’t do anything today the same way we did it in 1863, so we shouldn’t necessarily have the same tax structure that we had in 1863,” Hanshaw said. “The purpose of Amendment 2 is to just give the people’s elected representatives the opportunity to discuss what the proper tax structure for this state should be. I have no idea why that’s controversial.”

Hanshaw said he sees the state on a trajectory for fairly substantial sustained budget surpluses at least over the next three to five years. He said there is merit in considering the House Finance Committee’s hybrid plan of phasing in cuts of income, vehicle, and business and inventory taxes.

“You take the proposal that would eliminate, eventually, the tax on business, equipment, inventory and personal property tax on automobiles, as well as the governor’s proposed income tax cut, and phase that in over a period of years, which is actually how most states doing this successfully have done it,” Hanshaw said. “The plan that is out there under consideration now does work mathematically. The one place where we want to really be sure we’re careful and that we’ve thought the circumstances all the way through to their end is — to what extent do we rely upon our natural resource severance taxes?”

Hanshaw said he’s puzzled over comments of losses of county school and emergency services amid a Charleston power grab. He said most legislators live far from Charleston and need the same services for their families.

“We all still want water to come out of our faucets and fire service to come to our homes when we have an emergency. We have to be responsible enough to know that,” Hanshaw said. “If the legislature wanted to make life difficult for counties and municipalities, there’s plenty of room and opportunity to do that. The legislature has plenty of taxing authority and has the ability to push any number of mandates, well thought out or otherwise, off onto the counties. And we don’t do that because we live here too, so that argument is a bit misplaced, in my opinion.”

Hanshaw said he does get frustrated over lapses in communication among government leaders. He said three personal profiles show a “divergence of philosophy.”

“I’m a practicing attorney by trade, [Senate] President Blair is a contractor by trade, a master plumber, and electrician, and Gov. Justice is a businessman by trade. So your approach to government service is formed in significant part by how you’ve shaped your life and those other roles,” Hanshaw said. “The practice of law is a business of communication, it is about communicating your ideas or your clients position. So that’s always come pretty easy to me. Others who are in a position of having unilateral decision making authority in their business and are able to make things happen just by decreeing them, they approach government service differently.”

Hanshaw said the only job that the legislature has is to be a civil and deliberative body.

Justice Continues 'On The Road' Campaign Against Amendment 2 In Beckley

Justice met with constituents at Beckley’s Word Park. He continued to publicly argue against the amendment that would give the legislature the authority to eliminate property taxes.

Calling his state-traveling campaign a “community conversation” on his proposed personal income tax cut, Justice met with constituents at Beckley’s Word Park. He continued to publicly argue against the amendment that would give the legislature the authority to eliminate property taxes.

He again voiced his themes that cutting the business and inventory tax would cost $550 million and cripple the county government services that rely on that funding. He said amendment passage would give the legislature too much power over counties.

“What will happen to our schools? What will happen to our firemen and our policemen if this passes,” Justice questioned. “We will have to turn back to them and make cuts, and like it or not, we will.”

Justice said his proposed 10 percent income tax cut will bring new workers in, not help out-of-state corporations.

“If business after business are coming to West Virginia already, and they are, we need population growth here,” Justice said. “The very best way under the sun to have population growth is cutting the personal income tax.”

On the pro-Amendment 2 side, the most vocal proponent, Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, has touted the fact that Berkeley County is one of the few endorsing the amendment.

Justice has announced that he will have a community conversation on Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. outside the Kanawha County Courthouse in Charleston.

Preview: W.Va. Property Tax Amendment On November Ballot

A proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot this November will give the West Virginia Legislature authority to remove or reduce a variety of county level property taxes.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting previewed the ballot measure, looking at concerns on how passage would affect the state economy, essential services and its taxpayers.

The proposed amendment provides the legislature with the authority to exempt tangible machinery, equipment and inventory used in business activity – and personal property taxes on motor vehicles from property taxation.

Del. Wayne Clark, R-Jefferson, was a sponsor of House Joint Resolution 3 that put the amendment proposal on the ballot. He said voters need to understand a yes vote does not make any property tax changes, but gives the legislature authority it did not have to consider and propose changes.

“What we do after that, that’s going to be Senate and House Finance Committee Chairman (Eric) Tarr and (Eric) Householder’s process of where we want to look, at what taxes to maybe move or reduce,” Clark said. “I think the county commissioners think, ‘Oh, well, we’re just going in there to take away your money,’ and that’s not true. They don’t understand that the amendment has to be passed, so that the legislature can look at making changes to the tax code.”

Sean O’Leary is the senior policy analyst with the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. He said these property tax cuts are something the legislative Republican leadership and caucus has been attempting for years.

“The plan the previous year was they were just going to go ahead and exempt it,” O’Leary said. “But when they couldn’t come up with a way to pay for it, the amendment was tweaked a little bit to say, well, we’ll be allowed to do it. And we’ll figure out something later.”

Both sides agree eliminating the business equipment and inventory tax and the motor vehicle tax could cost schools, local and county governments more than $500 million in lost revenue. Clark said the plan on how to replace those funds will be part of the legislative process.

“I’ve heard several different ideas. And that’s all they are – ideas,” Clark said. “What if we had to raise the food tax? Or what if we had a meal tax? Or what if we increased the hotel-motel tax or something, there’s all kinds of things. People are going to have to really trust in the abilities of Chairman Tarr and Householder and their understanding of what the budget is and trust that they’re going to come up with the best solution. How we’re going to make counties whole, I don’t know. But right now, the main goal is – let’s get this thing passed so we can at least start looking.”

O’Leary said the lost revenue would devastate local and county services and significantly shift decision making power from local to state government.

“These cuts account for 27 percent of total property taxes and that’s the bulk of funding for local governments that really rely heavily on property taxes,” O’Leary said. “In some counties, it’s even greater, up to more than 30 or 40 percent of their total revenue. A lot of this money goes to those excess levies that directly fund libraries, EMS services, fire protection, senior centers. That money is earmarked and if that base is taken away they have to redo all of those excess levees, all of those bond levees to make sure that the revenue is still there.”

Clark said maintaining a machinery and inventory tax puts West Virginia at a competitive disadvantage in recruiting and retaining businesses

“You take a company like Toyota or any auto manufacturer – once that car is made, it’s taxable, it’s inventory. You have an $80,000 car sitting on a lot,” Clark said. “The Green Power bus folks, I have no idea what an electric bus is going to cost to make. Let’s say they make 20 of them and they’re $100,000 each. Well, they’re paying taxes on something that’s not even sold, it’s just sitting there. So yes, it’s going to attract new businesses here. It is a deterrent right now for businesses to move into the area.”

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O’Leary said neighboring Ohio got rid of its manufacturing personal property tax and it did nothing for manufacturing growth in that state. He said West Virginia property taxes are some of the lowest in the country, and the answer is to not make any cuts and use our tax revenues wisely.

“The solution is to take that tax revenue and invest it in ways that make West Virginia attractive and this is exactly what it does,” O’Leary said. “This money goes to schools, this money goes to public safety, this money goes to local infrastructure. We all want those things. Those things attract businesses. So why would we take that away? Why would we take away the resources that are funding the things that make West Virginia attractive?”

Voters will say yes or no to the officially titled “West Virginia Authorize Tax Exemptions for Vehicles and Personal Property Used for Business Amendment” on the election day, November 8, 2022.

Us & Them: The Bond Buster Says ‘No’ to Public Schools

Paying taxes is one of those things we just can’t avoid… except for the local tax measures we get to vote on. One of the best examples is school spending. When local school officials ask for additional money for new academic programs or school buildings, taxpayers must approve it. There’s one man who has worked with citizen’s groups in dozens of places to fight against more money for public schools. He’s been successful in many places and his efforts highlight the Us & Them in all of these communities.

For this episode, Trey speaks with APM Educate producer Alex Baumhardt about her time getting to know the “Bond Buster.”

Property Tax Revenue from Oil, Gas Drops in West Virginia

West Virginia collected $96 million in property tax revenue from oil and natural gas production during the 2017 tax year, a decline of $38 million from the previous year.

News outlets report that a Monday news release from the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association says the $96 million will go to county government for local school systems and community services.

The association’s executive director, Anne Blankenship, said property taxes fluctuate year to year based on multiple factors, including commodity prices. The tax revenue related to West Virginia’s oil and natural gas production is based on the material’s value from two years prior. From 2014 to 2015, West Virginia experienced a simultaneous growth in the amount of gas drillers pumped from wells and a collapse in prices.