WEST virginia legislature

2017 regular session

Engrossed

Committee Substitute

for

Senate Bill 647

By Senators Jeffries, Beach, Miller, Ojeda, Plymale, Prezioso and Stollings

[Originating in the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development; reported on March 23, 2017]

A Bill to amend and reenact §11-22-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating generally to additional county excise taxes on the privilege of transferring real property; authorizing an additional county excise tax in a county with an economic development corporation or authority under certain circumstances; setting forth the maximum amount of the additional excise tax; requiring that the additional tax be used exclusively for funding the operations, programs or activities of the local economic development corporation or authority; and making stylistic cleanup throughout the section to update certain archaic language.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §11-22-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 22.  EXCISE TAX ON PRIVILEGE OF TRANSFERRING REAL PROPERTY.

§11-22-2. Rate of tax; when and by whom payable; additional county tax; additional county tax to fund local economic development.

(a)(1) Every person who delivers, accepts or presents for recording any document, or on whose behalf any document is delivered, accepted or presented for recording, is subject to pay for, and in respect to the transaction or any part thereof, a state excise tax upon the privilege of transferring title to real estate at the rate of $1.10 for each $500 value or fraction thereof as represented by the document as defined in section one of this article. The state tax is payable at the time of delivery, acceptance or presenting for recording of the document is delivered, accepted or presented for recording.

(2) In addition to the state excise tax described in this subsection, there is assessed a fee of $20 upon the privilege of transferring real estate for consideration. The clerk of the county commission shall collect the additional $20 fee before recording a transfer of title to real estate and shall deposit the moneys from the additional fees into the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund as provided in article eighteen-d, chapter thirty-one of this code. The moneys collected from this additional fee shall be segregated from other funds in the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund and shall be accounted for separately. Not No more than ten percent of these additional moneys the fee may be expended by the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund to defray actual administrative and operating costs and expenses actually incurred by the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The Housing Development Fund, as fiscal agent of the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund, shall publish on its website a monthly on the Internet site an accounting of all revenue deposited into the fund during the that month and a full disclosure of all expenditures from the fund, including the group receiving funds, their its location and any contractor awarded the construction contract contracts awarded. Additionally, the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund is to provide an annual report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance before December 1, 2007, and of each year thereafter.

(b)(1) Effective January 1, 1968, and thereafter, there is imposed an An additional county excise tax is imposed for the privilege of transferring title to real estate at the rate of 55 cents for each $500 value or fraction thereof as represented by such the document as defined in section one of this article, which county tax shall be. It is payable at the time of delivery, acceptance or presenting for recording of such the document is delivered, accepted or presented for recording.: Provided, That after July 1, 1989, the

(2) The county may increase said the excise tax to an amount equal to the state excise tax. The additional tax hereby imposed is declared to be a county tax and to be used for county purposes. Provided, however, That, except as otherwise authorized in subsection (c) of this section and article twelve, chapter eight-a of this code, only one such state tax and one such county tax shall be paid on any one document and shall be collected in the county where the document is first admitted to record. and the The tax shall be paid by the grantor therein unless the grantee accepts the document without such the tax having been paid, in which event such the tax shall be paid by the grantee. Provided further, That on On any transfer of real property from a trustee or a county clerk transferring real estate sold for taxes, such the tax shall be paid by the grantee. The county excise tax imposed under by this section may not be increased in any county unless the increase is approved by a majority vote of the members of the county commission of such county. Any county commission intending to increase the excise tax imposed in its county shall publish a notice of its intention to increase such the tax not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days prior to the meeting at which such the increase will be considered. such The notice is to be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code and the publication area shall be include the county in which such the county commission is located.

(c) In addition to the taxes imposed by this article and article twelve, chapter eight-a of this code, any county commission of a county with an economic development corporation or authority, including without limitation, a development authority established under article twelve, chapter seven of this code operating within the county that participates in the certified development community program pursuant to article two, chapter five-b of this code, may impose an additional county excise tax for the privilege of transferring title to real estate at a rate of no more than $1.10 for each $500 value or fraction thereof, as represented by any document as defined in section one of this article, payable at the time of delivery, acceptance or presentation for recording of the document. The additional tax imposed pursuant to this subdivision is to be used exclusively for the purposes of funding the operations, programs or activities of the local economic development corporation or authority.