H. B. 2256
(By Delegate Walters)
[Introduced January 13, 2010; 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 §11-21-12i, 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 §11-21-12i, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 21. PERSONAL INCOME TAX.
§11-21-12i. Exemption for students attending or graduated from
state institutions of higher learning.
Any student attending full-time 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 State Tax Department 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 in accordance with article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code designed to effectuate the provisions of
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.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.