FISCAL NOTE
Date Requested: January 19, 2026
Time Requested: 04:21 PM |
| Agency: |
Tax & Revenue Department, WV State |
|---|
| CBD Number: |
Version: |
Bill Number: |
Resolution Number: |
| 2301 |
Introduced |
SB502 |
|
|---|
| CBD Subject: |
Education (Higher) |
|---|
|
FUND(S):
General Revenue Fund
Sources of Revenue:
General Fund
Legislation creates:
Decreases Existing Revenue, Increases Existing Expenses
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
The stated purpose of this bill is to create the Women’s Collegiate Sports Protection Act.
This bill would allow for a credit against the Personal Income Tax and Corporation Net Income Tax of up to 50 percent of a contribution to women’s athletics endowment. During fiscal year 2025, the Mountaineer Athletic Club received $18.5 million. In 2024, the most recent report, Marshall University’s athletics fundraising organization, the Big Green Scholarship Fund, reported contributions of $3.1 million. Because these monetary contributions are distributed as directed by the donor, we do not have readily available data regarding how much money has gone specifically to women’s sports. Therefore, we cannot reasonably estimate the revenue impact of this bill though the loss could be substantial.
Additional administrative costs incurred by the State Tax Division would be $46,150 in FY 2026 and $22,500 in subsequent fiscal years.
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2026
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2027
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
46,150 |
22,500 |
22,500 |
| Personal Services |
22,500 |
22,500 |
22,500 |
| Current Expenses |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Assets |
1,650 |
0 |
0 |
| Other |
22,000 |
0 |
0 |
| 2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
This bill would allow for a credit against the Personal Income Tax and Corporation Net Income Tax of up to 50 percent of a contribution to women’s athletics endowment. During fiscal year 2025, the Mountaineer Athletic Club received $18.5 million. In 2024, the most recent report, Marshall University’s athletics fundraising organization, the Big Green Scholarship Fund, reported contributions of $3.1 million. Because these monetary contributions are distributed as directed by the donor, we do not have readily available data regarding how much money has gone specifically to women’s sports. Therefore, we cannot reasonably estimate the revenue impact of this bill though the loss could be substantial.
Additional administrative costs incurred by the State Tax Division would be $46,150 in FY 2026 and $22,500 in subsequent fiscal years.
Memorandum
The stated purpose of this bill is to create the Women’s Collegiate Sports Protection Act.
The tax credit allowed by this bill would be for 50 percent of the contribution by the individual or corporation that made such contribution to a women’s athletic endowment. The issues that should be considered are:
● The Tax Commissioner is given the authority to administer the credit in coordination with the Higher Education Policy Commission. However, as a result of W. Va. Code §11-10-5d, the Tax Division has no statutory authority to provide any sensitive tax-related information to the Higher Education Policy Commission in order to participate in meaningful coordination.
● The bill is effective July 1, 2026. It would create a significant administrative burden to create regulations necessary to administer such a credit with the effective date being July 1, 2026. Timing may be even more difficult due to the need to coordinate with the Higher Education Policy Commission without any outlined procedure/deadlines for the Tax Division to receive all the necessary information from the Higher Education Policy Commission.
● July 1 is the middle of the 2026 tax year. The bill does not indicate how much of the credit may be claimed in the initial year.
● There is no language regarding the transfer of credits, whether the credit is refundable, whether the credit may be applied towards future tax years, etc.
● The bill states that the Legislature would have authority to annually set a cap on the amount of credit available (per taxpayer and statewide), but there is no discussion as to how/when this would happen. Moreover, this may result in serious budgetary concerns because there is no way to accurately predict the cost this program would have on the budget. This is especially concerning with a credit as significant as 50 percent.
● There is no discussion relating to how this credit may interact with federal charitable deductions.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Mark Muchow
Email Address: RADfiscal@wv.gov