WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2019 REGULAR SESSION

House Joint Resolution 21

By Delegate  Harshbarger

[ Introduced January 28, 2019; Referred
to the Committee on Finance then Judiciary];

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia, amending section one, article X thereof, relating to eliminating the state personal property tax over a period of five years; numbering and designating such proposed amendment; and providing a summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed amendment.

Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two thirds of the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:

That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to the voters of the state at the next general election to be held in the year 2020, which proposed amendment is that section one, article X thereof be amended, to read as follows:

ARTICLE X.  Taxation and finance.

§1.  Taxation and finance.

      Subject to the exceptions in this section contained, taxation shall be equal and uniform throughout the state, and all property, both real and personal, shall be taxed in proportion to its value to be ascertained as directed by law: Provided, That for tax years two thousand twenty-one through two thousand twenty-four, inclusive, the rate for personal property is: (1) Eighty percent of its value for two thousand twenty-one; (2) sixty percent of its value for two thousand twenty-two; (3) forty percent of its value for two thousand twenty-three; and (4) twenty percent of its value for two thousand twenty-four: Provided, however, That for two thousand twenty-five, and for all successive years, the personal property tax is eliminated in its entirety. No one species of property from which a tax may be collected shall be taxed higher than any other species of property of equal value; except that the aggregate of taxes assessed in any one year upon personal property employed exclusively in agriculture, including horticulture and grazing, products of agriculture as above defined, including livestock, while owned by the producer, and money, notes, bonds, bills and accounts receivable, stocks and other similar intangible personal property shall not exceed fifty cents on each one hundred dollars of value thereon and upon all property owned, used and occupied by the owner thereof exclusively for residential purposes and upon farms occupied and cultivated by their owners or bona fide tenants, one dollar; and upon all other property situated outside of municipalities, one dollar and fifty cents; and upon all other property situated within municipalities, two dollars; and the Legislature shall further provide by general law for increasing the maximum rates, authorized to be fixed, by the different levying bodies upon all classes of property, by submitting the question to the voters of the taxing units affected, but no increase shall be effective unless at least sixty percent of the qualified voters shall favor such increase, and such increase shall not continue for a longer period than three years at any one time, and shall never exceed by more than fifty percent the maximum rate herein provided and prescribed by law; and the revenue derived from this source shall be apportioned by the Legislature among the levying units of the state in proportion to the levy laid in said units upon real and other personal property; but property used for educational, literary, scientific, religious or charitable purposes, all cemeteries, public property, the personal property, including livestock, employed exclusively in agriculture as above defined and the products of agriculture as so defined while owned by the producers may by law be exempted from taxation; household goods to the value of two hundred dollars shall be exempted from taxation. The Legislature shall have authority to tax privileges, franchises, and incomes of persons and corporations and to classify and graduate the tax on all incomes according to the amount thereof and to exempt from taxation incomes below a minimum to be fixed from time to time, and such revenues as may be derived from such tax may be appropriated as the Legislature may provide. After the year nineteen hundred thirty-three, the rate of the state tax upon property shall not exceed one cent upon the hundred dollars valuation, except to pay the principal and interest of bonded indebtedness of the state now existing.

Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of article eleven, chapter three of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, such proposed amendment is hereby numbered “Amendment No. 1” and designated as the “Elimination of Personal Property Tax Amendment” and the purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: “To amend the State Constitution to eliminate the state personal property tax over a five-year period beginning in the year 2021.”

NOTE: The purpose of this resolution is to amend the State Constitution to eliminate the state personal property tax over a five-year period beginning in 2021.

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