H. B. 3123
(By Delegates Carmichael, Ellem,
Palumbo, Doyle, Canterbury and Blair)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-15-3a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §11-16-13 of said code;
and to amend and reenact §11-17-3 of said code, all relating
to taxation; eliminating the consumer sales and service tax
on food; increasing the tax on nonintoxicating beer per barrel
from five dollars and fifty cents to six dollars and
thirty-five cents; increasing the rate of tax on cigarettes
from fifty-five cents to one dollar and thirty-five cents;
increasing the excise tax on noncigarette tobacco products
from seven percent to fourteen percent; and providing for the
dedication of five million dollars of the revenue for the
first year to the Department of Agriculture.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-15-3a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; that §11-16-13 of said code be amended
and reenacted; and that §11-17-3 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 15. CONSUMERS SALES AND SERVICE TAX.
§11-15-3a. Rate of tax on food and food ingredients intended for
human consumption; reduction of tax beginning
January 1, 2006; elimination of tax beginning July
1, 2007; exceptions; legislative, emergency and
other rules.
(a)
Rate of tax on food and food ingredients.--
Notwithstanding any provision of this article or article fifteen-a
of this chapter to the contrary, the rate of tax on sales,
purchases and uses of food and food ingredients intended for human
consumption after the thirty-first day of December, two thousand
five, shall be five percent of its sales price, as defined in
section two, article fifteen-b of this chapter:
Provided, That
beginning the first day of July, two thousand seven, any tax
imposed, on sales, purchases and uses of food and food ingredients
intended for human consumption shall be abolished: Provided,
however, That the tax imposed, on sales, purchases and uses of
prepared food, by section three-b, shall remain in effect.
(b)
Calculation of tax on fractional parts of a dollar. -- The
tax computation under 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 seller 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.
(c)
Exceptions. -- The reduced rate of tax provided in this
section shall not apply to sales, purchases and uses by consumers
of "Prepared food," as defined in article fifteen-b of this
chapter, which shall remain taxable at the general rate of tax
specified in section three of this article and section two, article
fifteen-a of this chapter.
(d)
Federal food stamp and women, infants and children
programs, other exemptions. -- Nothing in this section shall affect
application of the exemption from tax provided in section nine of
this article for food purchased by an eligible person using food
stamps, electronic benefits transfer cards or vouchers issued by or
pursuant to authorization of the United States Department of
Agriculture to individuals participating in the federal food stamp
program, by whatever name called, or the women, infants, and
children (WIC) program, or application of any other exemption from
tax set forth in this article or article fifteen-a of this chapter.
(e)
Legislative rules; emergency rules. -- The Tax
Commissioner may promulgate legislative rules and emergency rules
explaining and implementing this section, which rules shall be
promulgated in accordance with the provisions of article three,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. The authority to promulgate rules includes authority to amend or repeal those rules. If
proposed legislative rules for this section are filed in the State
Register before the fifteenth day of December, two thousand five,
those rules may be promulgated as emergency legislative rules, as
provided in article three of
said chapter twenty-nine-a
of this
code.
ARTICLE 16. NONINTOXICATING BEER.
§11-16-13. Barrel tax on nonintoxicating beer.
(a) There is hereby levied and imposed, in addition to the
license taxes provided for in this article, a tax of
five six
dollars and
fifty thirty-five cents on each barrel of thirty-one
gallons and in like ratio on each part barrel of nonintoxicating
beer manufactured in this state for sale within this state, whether
contained or sold in barrels, bottles or other containers, and a
like tax is hereby levied and imposed upon all nonintoxicating beer
manufactured outside of this state and brought into this state for
sale within this state; but no nonintoxicating beer manufactured,
sold or distributed in this state is subject to more than one
barrel tax. The brewer manufacturing or producing nonintoxicating
beer within this state for sale within this state shall pay the
barrel tax on such nonintoxicating beer, and, except as provided
otherwise, the distributor who is the original consignee of
nonintoxicating beer manufactured or produced outside of this
state, or who brings such nonintoxicating beer into this state, shall pay the barrel tax on such nonintoxicating beer manufactured
or produced outside of this state:
Provided, That the barrel tax
imposed by this section shall not apply to nonintoxicating beer
manufactured by a brewpub.
(b) On or before the tenth day of each month during the
license period, every brewer or operator of a brewpub who
manufactures or produces nonintoxicating beer within this state
shall file a report in writing, under oath, to the Tax
Commissioner, in the form prescribed by the Tax Commissioner,
stating its total sales, or in the case of a brewpub, its total
estimated production of nonintoxicating beer within this state
during that month, and at the same time shall pay the tax levied by
this article on such production. On or before the tenth day of
each month during the license period, every distributor who is the
original consignee of nonintoxicating beer manufactured or produced
outside this state or who brings such beer into this state for sale
shall file a report in writing, under oath, to the Tax
Commissioner, in the form prescribed by the Tax Commissioner,
stating its total estimated purchases of such nonintoxicating beer
during that month, and at the same time shall pay the tax thereon
levied by this article for such estimated monthly purchase:
Provided, That the Tax Commissioner may allow, or require, a brewer
who manufactures or produces nonintoxicating beer outside this
state to file the required report and pay the required tax on behalf of its distributor or distributors. Any brewer or
distributor or operator of a brewpub who files a report under this
subsection may adjust its monthly estimated sales or purchases or
production report or reports by filing amended reports by the
twenty-fifth day of the reporting month.
(c) Every brewer or distributor or operator of a brewpub who
files a report under subsection (b) of this section shall file a
final monthly report of said sales or purchases or production, in
a form and at a time prescribed by the Tax Commissioner, stating
actual nonintoxicating beer sales, purchases, or production and
other information which the Tax Commissioner may require, and shall
include a remittance for any barrel tax owed for actual sales or
purchases or production made in excess of the amount estimated for
that month.
(d) Any brewer or distributor or operator of a brewpub who
files a report pursuant to subsection (b) of this section
reflecting an underestimation of twenty-five percent or more of
actual sales or purchases or production of nonintoxicating beer as
shown by the report filed pursuant to subsection © of this section
shall be assessed a penalty of one percent of the total taxes due
in such prior month.
(e) Brewers and distributors and operators of brewpubs shall
keep all records which relate to the sale or purchase in this state
of nonintoxicating beer for a period of three years unless written approval for earlier disposal is granted by the Tax Commissioner.
(f) Brewpubs shall keep such records as required by the
federal government and may, in lieu of the recordkeeping and
reporting requirements contained in subsections (a) through (e) of
this section, file copies of the federal reports contemporaneously
with the Tax Commissioner at the time of such filings with the
federal government. The filing of duplicate copies of the federal
reports with the State Tax Commissioner shall be deemed as
compliance with subsections (a) through (e) of this section.
(g) Effective date. -- The changes set forth herein to this
section shall become effective the first day of July, two thousand
seven.
ARTICLE 17. TOBACCO PRODUCTS EXCISE TAX ACT.
§11-17-3. Levy of tax; ratio; dedication of proceeds.
(a)
Tax on cigarettes. -- For the purpose of providing revenue
for the General Revenue Fund of the state, an excise tax is hereby
levied and imposed on sales of cigarettes at the rate of
fifty-five
one dollar and thirty-five cents on each twenty cigarettes or in
like ratio on any part thereof. Only one sale of the same article
shall be used in computing the amount of tax due under this
subsection.
(b)
Tax on tobacco products other than cigarettes. --
Effective the first day of January, two thousand two, an excise tax
is hereby levied and imposed on the sale or use of, other than cigarettes, tobacco products at a rate equal to
seven fourteen
percent of the wholesale price of each article or item of tobacco
product other than cigarettes sold by the wholesaler or subjobber
dealer, whether or not sold at wholesale, or if not sold, then at
the same rate upon the use by the wholesaler or dealer. Only one
sale of the same article shall be used in computing the amount of
tax due under this subsection. Revenues received from this tax
shall be deposited into the General Revenue Fund:
Provided, That
the first five million dollars of revenue collected, between the
first day of July, two thousand seven and the thirtieth day of
June, two thousand eight, is dedicated and shall be transferred,
without legislative appropriation, to the Department of Agriculture
for crop transition programs.
(c)
Effective date. -- The changes set forth herein to this
section
and section four of this article shall become effective the
first day of
May, two thousand three July, two thousand seven.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to abolish the food tax,
increase the tax on nonintoxicating beer per barrel from five
dollars and fifty cents to six dollars and thirty-five cents,
increase the tax on cigarettes to one dollar and thirty-five cents,
increase the tax on noncigarettes tobacco products from seven to
fourteen percent, and to dedicate the first five million of revenue
to the Department of Agriculture's crop transition program.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.