H. B. 2143
(By Delegates Shaver and Williams)
[Introduced February 11, 2009; referred to the
Committee on Roads and Transportation then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-15-3a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the dedication of a portion of
the receipts from the food tax to the Commissioner of Highways
to be distributed equally to each district of the Division of
Highways for the maintenance of secondary roads.
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 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; reductions of tax beginning
January 1, 2006, July 1, 2007 and July 1, 2008.
(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 December 31, 2005, shall be five percent of its
sales price, as defined in section two, article fifteen-b of this
chapter:
Provided, That the rate of tax on sales, purchases and
uses of food and food ingredients, as defined in said section, that
is intended for human consumption after June 30, 2007, shall be
four percent of its sales price, as defined in said section:
Provided, however, That the rate of tax on sales, purchases and
uses of food and food ingredients as defined in said section that
is intended for human consumption after June 30, 2008, shall be
three percent of its sales price, as defined in said section.
(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)
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.
(d) Effective July 1, 2009, and at the end of each month
thereafter, the Tax Commissioner shall remit to the Division of
Highways, a portion of all the proceeds of the tax imposed by this
section which represents an amount equal to one cent of each $1.00
of each sale. The Commissioner of Highways shall establish a fund
within the division for deposit of the proceeds received from the
Tax Commissioner and shall dedicate these funds for maintaining
secondary roads only, including, but not limited to, road repair,
tar and chipping, gravel replacement, ditch cleaning and brush
removal. The commissioner shall annually distribute the moneys
from these funds equally to each of the Division of Highways
districts for the purposes set forth in this subdivision only.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to dedicate a portion of the
receipts from the tax on food products to be distributed equally to
each district of the Division of Highways for the maintenance of
secondary roads.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.