Senate Bill No. 46
(By Senators Sharpe, Oliverio, McKenzie, Fanning, Ball, Hunter,
Boley and Minear)
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[Introduced January 14, 1998;
referred to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section nine, article three, chapter
eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend said
article by adding thereto a new section, designated section
nine-a, all relating to exempting one personal vehicle of
each voluntary fire department member from personal property
tax in proportion to the amount of use for voluntary fire
department purposes; and providing for the chief to furnish
the assessor with a list of members and mileage records.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section nine, article three, chapter eleven of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said article be further amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
section nine-a, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. ASSESSMENTS GENERALLY.
§11-3-9. Property exempt from taxation.
All property, real and personal, described in this section,
and to the extent herein limited,
shall be is exempt from
taxation, that is to say: Property belonging to the United
States, other than property permitted by the United States to be
taxed under state law; property belonging exclusively to the
state; property belonging exclusively to any county, district,
city, village or town in this state, and used for public
purposes; property located in this state, belonging to any city,
town, village, county or any other political subdivision of
another state, and used for public purposes; property used
exclusively for divine worship; parsonages, and the household
goods and furniture pertaining thereto; mortgages, bonds and
other evidence of indebtedness in the hands of bona fide owners
and holders hereafter issued and sold by churches and religious
societies for the purposes of securing money to be used in the
erection of church buildings used exclusively for divine worship,
or for the purpose of paying indebtedness thereon; cemeteries;
property belonging to, or held in trust for, colleges,
seminaries, academies and free schools, if used for educational,
literary or scientific purposes, including books, apparatus, annuities and furniture; property belonging to, or held in trust
for, colleges or universities located in West Virginia, or any
public or private nonprofit foundation or corporation which
receives contributions exclusively for
such the college or
university, if the property or dividends, interest, rents or
royalties derived therefrom are used or devoted to educational
purposes of
such the college or university; public and family
libraries; property used for charitable purposes, and not held or
leased out for profit; property used for the public purposes of
distributing water or natural gas, or providing sewer service by
a duly chartered nonprofit corporation when
such the property is
not held, leased out or used for profit; property used for area
economic development purposes by nonprofit corporations when
such
the property is not leased out for profit; all real estate not
exceeding one-half acre in extent, and the buildings thereon, and
used exclusively by any college or university society as a
literary hall, or as a dormitory or clubrooms, if not leased or
otherwise used with a view to profit; all property belonging to
benevolent associations, not conducted for private profit;
property belonging to any public institution for the education of
the deaf, dumb or blind, or any hospital not held or leased out
for profit; house of refuge, lunatic or orphan asylum; homes for
children or for the aged, friendless or infirm, not conducted for
private profit; fire engines and implements for extinguishing fires, and property used exclusively for the safekeeping thereof,
and for the meeting of fire companies;
one personal vehicle owned
by each voluntary fire department member to the extent of use for
voluntary fire department purposes as provided in section nine-a
of this article; all property on hand to be used in the
subsistence of livestock on hand at the commencement of the
assessment year; household goods to the value of two hundred
dollars, whether or not held or used for profit; bank deposits
and money; household goods (which term is deemed for purposes of
this section to mean only personal property and household goods
commonly found within the house and items used to care for the
house and its surrounding property) when not held or used for
profit, and personal effects (which term is deemed for purposes
of this section to mean only articles and items of personal
property commonly worn on or about the human body, or carried by
a person and normally thought to be associated with the person)
when not held or used for profit; dead victuals laid away for
family use and any other property or security exempted by any
other provision of law; but no property
shall be is exempt from
taxation which
shall have has been purchased or procured for the
purpose of evading taxation, whether temporarily holding the same
over the first day of the assessment year or otherwise:
Provided, That real property which is exempt from taxation by
this section shall be entered upon the assessor's books, together with the true and actual value thereof, but no taxes
shall may be
levied upon the same or extended upon the assessor's books.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section,
however, no language herein
shall may be construed to exempt from
taxation any property owned by, or held in trust for,
educational, literary, scientific, religious or other charitable
corporations or organizations, including any public or private
nonprofit foundation or corporation existing for the support of
any college or university located in West Virginia, unless
such
the property, or the dividends, interest, rents or royalties
derived therefrom, is used primarily and immediately for the
purposes of
such the corporations or organizations.
The tax commissioner shall, by issuance of
regulations
rules, provide each assessor with guidelines to ensure uniform
assessment practices statewide to effect the intent of this
section.
§11-3-9a. Voluntary fire department member's tax exemption for
vehicle.
(a) Each member of a voluntary fire department in this
state, who regularly responds to emergency calls, may exempt from
personal property tax one personal vehicle that is regularly used
to further the purposes of the fire department. Up to ten
percent of any increase in revenue that a county derives from
property reappraisal may be used to fund the exemption. If the county incurs a decrease in revenue as a result of the
reappraisal, the exemption is optional. This exemption is not
available to members of a paid fire department.
(b) The chief of every volunteer fire department within this
state shall provide the assessor of each county with a list of
all members of the chief's volunteer fire department. The list
shall be updated within thirty days of any change in the
membership of a voluntary fire department.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for each
volunteer fire department member an exemption from personal
property tax on one personal vehicle in proportion to the
vehicle's use for the voluntary fire department.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
§11-3-9a is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.