H. B. 4514
(By Delegate McGeehan)
[Introduced February 16, 2010
; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-15-3 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to eliminating the sales tax on
food.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-15-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 15. CONSUMERS SALES AND SERVICE TAX.
§11-15-3. Amount of tax; allocation of tax and transfers.
(a) Vendor to collect. -- For the privilege of selling
tangible personal property or custom software and for the privilege
of furnishing certain selected services defined in sections two and
eight of this article, the vendor shall collect from the purchaser
the tax as provided under this article and article fifteen-b of
this chapter, and shall pay the amount of tax to the Tax Commissioner in accordance with the provisions of this article or
article fifteen-b of this chapter.
(b) Amount of tax. -- The general consumer sales and service
tax imposed by this article shall be at the rate of six cents on
the dollar of sales or services, excluding gasoline and special
fuel sales, which remain taxable at the rate of five cents on the
dollar of sales.
(c) Calculation tax on fractional parts of a dollar until
January 1, 2004. -- There shall be no tax on sales where the
monetary consideration is five cents or less. The amount of the
tax shall be computed as follows:
(1) On each sale, where the monetary consideration is from six
cents to sixteen cents, both inclusive.
(2) On each sale, where the monetary consideration is from
seventeen cents to thirty-three cents, both inclusive.
(3) On each sale, where the monetary consideration is from
thirty-four to fifty cents, both inclusive.
(4) On each sale, where the monetary consideration is from
fifty-one cents to sixty-seven cents, both inclusive.
(5) On each sale, where the monetary consideration is from
sixty-eight cents to eighty-four cents, both inclusive.
(6) On each sale, where the monetary consideration is from
eighty-five cents to $1, both inclusive.
(7) If the sale price is in excess of $1, six cents on on each
whole dollar of sale price, and upon any fractional part of a
dollar in excess of whole dollars as follows: One cent on the
fractional part of the dollar if less than seventeen cents; two
cents on the fractional part of the dollar if in excess of sixteen
cents but less than thirty-four cents; three cents on the
fractional part of the dollar if in excess of thirty-three cents
but less than fifty-one cents; four cents on the fractional part
of the dollar if in excess of fifty cents but less than sixty-eight
cents; five cents on the fractional part of the dollar if in excess
of sixty-seven cents but less than eighty-five cents; and six cents
on the fractional part of the dollar if in excess of eighty-four
cents. For example, the tax on sales from $1.01 to $1.16, both
inclusive, seven cents; on sales from $1.17 to $1.33, both
inclusive, eight cents; on sales from $1.34 to $1.50, both
inclusive, nine cents; on sales from $1.51 to $1.67, both
inclusive, ten cents; on sales from $1.68 to $1.84, both inclusive,
eleven cents and on sales from $1.85 to $2, both inclusive, twelve
cents: Provided, That beginning January 1, 2004, tax due under
this article shall be calculated as provided in subsection (d) of
this subsection and this subsection (c) does not apply to sales
made after December 31, 2003.
(d) Calculation of tax on fractional parts of a dollar after December 31, 2003. -- Beginning January 1, 2004, the tax
computation under subsection (b) of this section shall be carried
to the third decimal place, and the tax rounded up to the next
whole cent whenever the third decimal place is greater than four
and rounded down to the lower whole cent whenever the third decimal
place is four or less. The vendor may elect to compute the tax due
on a transaction on a per item basis or on an invoice basis
provided the method used is consistently used during the reporting
period.
(e) No aggregation of separate sales transactions, exception
for coin-operated devices. -- Separate sales, such as daily or
weekly deliveries, shall not be aggregated for the purpose of
computation of the tax even though the sales are aggregated in the
billing or payment therefor. Notwithstanding any other provision
of this article, coin-operated amusement and vending machine sales
shall be aggregated for the purpose of computation of this tax.
(f) Rate of tax on certain mobile homes. -- Notwithstanding
any provision of this article to the contrary, after December 31,
2003, the tax levied on sales of mobile homes to be used by the
owner thereof as his or her principal year-round residence and
dwelling shall be an amount equal to six percent of fifty percent
of the sales price.
(g) Construction; custom software. -- After December 31, 2003, whenever the words "tangible personal property" or "property"
appear in this article, the same shall also include the words
"custom software".
(h) Computation of tax on sales of gasoline and special fuel.
-- The method of computation of tax provided in this section does
not apply to sales of gasoline and special fuel.
(i) Exemption of tax on sales of food. -- Notwithstanding any
other provision of this section to the contrary, food shall be
exempt from consumer sales tax after July 1, 2012.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to abolish the sales tax on
food by July 1, 2012.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.