H. B. 2745
(By Delegates Walters, Raines and Frich)
[Introduced February 27, 2013; referred to the
Committee on Education then Finance.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §11-21-12j, relating
to exempting students attending state colleges or universities
in undergraduate programs and graduates of undergraduate
programs of state institutions of higher learning for the
first two tax years postgraduation from the payment of state
income tax; providing that students attending state
institutions and enrolled in undergraduate programs and
undergraduate graduates of state institutions for the first
two years after graduating shall pay seventy-five percent of
any state income tax that they otherwise would owe to the
particular institution or other corporate creditor from which
the student or graduate obtained student loans to attend the
state institution of higher learning.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §11-21-12j, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 21. PERSONAL INCOME TAX.
§11-21-12j. Exemption for students attending or graduated from
state institutions of higher learning.
_____Any full-time student attending a state public institution of
higher learning in an accredited undergraduate program and for the
first two tax years following successful completion of an
undergraduate program, is exempt from the tax imposed by this
article. In order to qualify for this exemption, the taxpayer must
present proof to the Tax Commissioner that in the year of exemption
provided under this section, he or she paid a minimum sum equal to
or greater than seventy-five percent of the tax liability that
would have otherwise existed under this article in the subject tax
year to the institution or other qualified lending entity to which
the taxpayer has incurred a debt in the form of a student loan or
student loans. The Tax Commissioner shall propose legislative rules
for legislative approval in accordance with article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code to implement this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to give current undergraduate
students relief from paying state income taxes and graduates of
undergraduate programs relief from state income taxes for a period
of two years.
This section is new; therefore, it has been completely
underscored.