COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 142
(By Senators Chafin, Fanning, Minear, Helmick, Sharpe and Ross)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported April 2, 1997.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article thirteen-a,
chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to a reduction
of the severance tax rate for coal mined in West Virginia by
underground methods based upon seam thickness.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article thirteen-a, chapter eleven of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13A. SEVERANCE TAXES.
§11-13A-3. Imposition of tax or privilege of severing coal, limestone or sandstone, or furnishing certain health
care services, effective dates therefor; reduction of severance rate for coal mined by underground methods based on seam thickness.
(a) Imposition of tax. -- Upon every person exercising the
privilege of engaging or continuing within this state in the
business of severing, extracting, reducing to possession and
producing for sale, profit or commercial use coal, limestone or
sandstone, or in the business of furnishing certain health care
services, there is hereby levied and shall be collected from
every person exercising such privilege an annual privilege tax.
(b) Rate and measure of tax. -- The tax imposed in
subsection (a) of this section shall be five percent of the gross
value of the natural resource produced or the health care service
provided, as shown by the gross income derived from the sale or
furnishing thereof by the producer or the provider of the health
care service, except as otherwise provided in this article. In
the case of coal, this five percent rate of tax includes the
thirty-five one hundredths of one percent additional severance
tax on coal imposed by the state for the benefit of counties and
municipalities as provided in section six of this article.
(c) "Certain health care services" defined. -- For purposes
of this section, the term "certain health care services" means,
and is limited to, behavioral health services and community care
services.
(d) Tax in addition to other taxes. -- The tax imposed by this section shall apply to all persons severing or processing
(or both severing and processing) in this state natural resources
enumerated in subsection (a) of this section, and to all persons
providing certain health care services in this state as
enumerated in subsection (c) of this section, and shall be in
addition to all other taxes imposed by law.
(e) Effective date. -- This section, as amended in the year
one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, shall apply to gross
proceeds derived after the thirty-first day of May of such year.
The language of this section, as in effect on the first day of
January of such year, shall apply to gross proceeds derived prior
to the first day of June of such year and, with respect to such
gross proceeds, shall be fully and completely preserved.
(f) Reduction of severance tax rate. -- For tax years
beginning after the first day of January, one thousand nine
hundred ninety- eight, any person exercising the privilege of
engaging within this state in the business of severing coal for
the purposes provided in subsection (a) of this section, shall be
allowed a reduced rate of tax on coal mined by underground
methods in accordance with the following:
(iIiIi) For coal mined by underground methods from seams with an
average thickness of thirty- seven inches to forty- five inches,
the tax imposed in subsection (a) of this section, shall be two percent of the gross value of the coal produced. For coal mined
by underground methods from seams with an average thickness of
less than thirty- seven inches, the tax imposed in subsection (a)
of this section, shall be one percent of the gross value of the
coal produced. Gross value is determined from the sale of the
mined coal by the producer. This rate of tax includes the
thirty- five one hundredths of one percent additional severance
tax imposed by the state for the benefit of counties and
municipalities as provided in section six of this article.
(ii) This reduced rate of tax applies to any new
underground mine producing coal after the first day of January,
one thousand nineteen hundred ninety- eight, from seams of less than
forty-
five inches in average thickness or any existing mine that
has not produced coal from seams forty- five inches or less in
thickness in the one hundred eighty days immediately preceding
the first day of January, one thousand nineteen hundred ninety- eight.
(iii) The seam thickness shall be based on the weighted
average isopach mapping of actual coal thickness by mine as
certified by a professional engineer.