WEST virginia Legislature

2018 regular session

Introduced

Senate Bill 316

By Senators Jeffries, Baldwin, Beach, Ojeda, Prezioso, Romano, Smith, Facemire, and Stollings

[Introduced January 18, 2018; Referred
to the Committee on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §11-21-97, relating to creating a refundable personal income tax credit to encourage persons receiving public assistance to get married; reducing the so-called marriage penalty that may exist in certain public assistance programs; declaring legislative intent; defining terms; requiring certain facts be proven to obtain the credit; detailing how the credit is calculated; authorizing procedural rules; and authorizing the sharing of confidential information between the Tax Commissioner and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 21. PERSONAL INCOME TAX

§11-21-97. Refundable credit for certain married persons.

(a) Legislative Intent – The Legislature finds that there are certain persons who receive public assistance that, due to the means test required by the public assistance program, are dissuaded from getting married. This is commonly referred to as a marriage penalty because a person receiving the benefit and living with their partner already would receive a reduced benefit if they were to get married. The intent of this section is to reduce the impact of any actual marriage penalty for the first five taxable years after marriage.

(b) Definition – For the purposes of this section, unless the context clearly shows otherwise:

(1) “Public assistance benefit” means any monetary benefit received by a person from a public assistance program for the person or his or her minor dependents; and

(2) “Public assistance program” includes any state or federal program that provides a public assistance benefit based, at least in part, on a person’s income. Examples of public assistance programs include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

(c) Creation of refundable tax credit – There is hereby created a refundable credit against the taxes imposed by this article to all persons who can prove the following:

(1) Prior to getting married, he or she received a means tested public assistance benefit;

(2) He or she was married within the previous five taxable years and is still married at the time of filing;

(3) After becoming married, he or she lost or had a reduction in the public assistance benefit he or she received prior to marriage due to a change in the means test analysis that included the earnings of his or her spouse;

(4) The dollar amount of the difference in benefits received between the time prior to becoming married and the time after becoming married, solely due to the impact of the marriage on the means test, and extrapolated to an annualized amount; and

(5) He or she is filing a joint tax return with their spouse;

(d) Amount of refundable tax credit – The refundable credit authorized by this section is for an amount equal to the lesser the actual annualized amount proven as required by subdivision (4), subsection (c) of this section and $5,000.

(e) Rulemaking – The Tax Commissioner may promulgate procedural rules in accordance with §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code to expand upon the process required to obtain the credit authorized by this section.

(f) Confidential information – The Tax Commissioner may enter into a written agreement with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources to create a protocol for the sharing of confidential information in order to confirm information regarding public assistance recipients means tests generally and with respect to specific tax filers. All information exchanged pursuant to this authorization shall enjoy the same level of confidentiality and protection in the hands of the Tax Commissioner as if it were in the hands of the Department of Health and Human Resources.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to reduce the impact of the so-called marriage penalty by providing a refundable tax credit to persons who have a reduction in their public assistance benefits due to become married.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.