H. B. 2681
(By Delegates Carmichael Ellem, Doyle,
Canterbury and Blair)
[Introduced January 13, 2010; 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 $5.50 to $6.35; increasing the rate of tax on cigarettes
from $0.55 to $1.35; increasing the excise tax on noncigarette
tobacco products from seven percent to fourteen percent; and
providing for the dedication of $5 million 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; reductions of tax beginning
January 1, 2006, July 1, 2007,
and July 1, 2008, and
July 1, 2009.
(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:
Provided further, That beginning July 1, 2009, any tax imposed, on
sales, purchases and uses of food and food ingredients intended for
human consumption shall be abolished: And Provided further, That
the tax imposed, on sales, purchases and uses of prepared food, by
section three-b of this article 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)
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.
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 dollars
and fifty cents $6.35 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 (c) 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 July 1, 2009.
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
cents $1.35 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 January 1, 2002, 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 percent 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
$5 million of revenue collected, between July 1, 2009 and June 30,
2010, 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 1, 2009.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to abolish the food tax, increase the tax on nonintoxicating beer per barrel from $5.50 to
$6.35, increase the tax on cigarettes to $1.35, increase the tax on
noncigarette tobacco products from seven percent to fourteen
percent, and to dedicate the first $5 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.