Senate Bill No. 136
(By Senator Whitlow)
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[Introduced January 28, 1994; referred to the Committee
on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section nine, article three, chapter
eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to homestead
exemptions; and exempting the first twelve thousand dollars
of value of owner occupied real property for residents under
sixty-five years of age who are not totally and permanently
disabled.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section nine, article three, chapter eleven of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. ASSESSMENTS GENERALLY.
ยง11-3-9. Property exempt from taxation.
All property, real and personal, described in this section,
and to the extent herein limited, shall be exempt from taxation,
that is to say: Property belonging to the United States, other
than property permitted by the United States to be taxed understate law; property belonging exclusively to the state; property
belonging exclusively to any county, district, city, village or
town in this state, and used for public purposes; property
located in this state, belonging to any city, town, village,
county or any other political subdivision of another state, and
used for public purposes; property used exclusively for divine
worship; parsonages, and the household goods and furniture
pertaining thereto; mortgages, bonds and other evidence of
indebtedness in the hands of bona fide owners and holders
hereafter issued and sold by churches and religious societies for
the purposes of securing money to be used in the erection of
church buildings used exclusively for divine worship, or for the
purpose of paying indebtedness thereon; cemeteries; property
belonging to, or held in trust for, colleges, seminaries,
academies and free schools, if used for educational, literary or
scientific purposes, including books, apparatus, annuities and
furniture; property belonging to, or held in trust for, colleges
or universities located in West Virginia, or any public or
private nonprofit foundation or corporation which receives
contributions exclusively for such college or university, if the
property or dividends, interest, rents or royalties derived
therefrom are used or devoted to educational purposes of such
college or university; public and family libraries; property used
for charitable purposes, and not held or leased out for profit;
property used for the public purposes of distributing water or
natural gas, or providing sewer service by a duly charterednonprofit corporation when such property is not held, leased out
or used for profit; property used for area economic development
purposes by nonprofit corporations when such property is not
leased out for profit; all real estate not exceeding one-half
acre in extent, and the buildings thereon, and used exclusively
by any college or university society as a literary hall, or as a
dormitory or clubroom, if not leased or otherwise used with a
view to profit; all property belonging to benevolent
associations, not conducted for private profit; property
belonging to any public institution for the education of the
deaf, dumb or blind, or any hospital not held or leased out for
profit; house of refuge, lunatic or orphan asylum; homes for
children or for the aged, friendless or infirm, not conducted for
private profit; fire engines and implements for extinguishing
fires, and property used exclusively for the safekeeping thereof,
and for the meeting of fire companies; all property on hand to be
used in the subsistence of livestock on hand at the commencement
of the assessment year; household goods to the value of two
hundred dollars, whether or not held or used for profit; bank
deposits and money; household goods (which term is deemed for
purposes of this section to mean only personal property and
household goods commonly found within the house and items used to
care for the house and its surrounding property) when not held or
used for profit, and personal effects (which term is deemed for
purposes of this section to mean only articles and items of
personal property commonly worn on or about the human body, orcarried by a person and normally thought to be associated with
the person) when not held or used for profit; dead victuals laid
away for family use and any other property or security exempted
by any other provision of law; effective the first day of
January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-five, the first twelve
thousand dollars of value of any real property, or of personal
property in the form of a mobile home, used exclusively for
residential purposes and occupied by the owner or one of the
owners thereof as his residence who is a citizen of this state
and who is under sixty-five years of age and not totally and
permanently disabled; but no property shall be exempt from
taxation which shall have been purchased or procured for the
purpose of evading taxation, whether temporarily holding the same
over the first day of the assessment year or otherwise:
Provided,
That real property which is exempt from taxation by
this section shall be entered upon the assessor's books, together
with the true and actual value thereof, but no taxes shall be
levied upon the same or extended upon the assessor's books.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section,
however, no language herein shall be construed to exempt from
taxation any property owned by, or held in trust for,
educational, literary, scientific, religious or other charitable
corporations or organizations, including any public or private
nonprofit foundation or corporation existing for the support of
any college or university located in West Virginia, unless such
property, or the dividends, interest, rents or royalties derivedtherefrom, is used primarily and immediately for the purposes of
such corporations or organizations.
The tax commissioner shall, by issuance of regulations,
provide each assessor with guidelines to ensure uniform
assessment practices statewide to effect the intent of this
section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to implement provisions
of the Constitution regarding homestead exemptions. This bill
would exempt from taxation the twelve thousand dollars of real
property used exclusively for residential purposes and occupied
by the owner for residents under age sixty-five who are not
totally and permanently disabled.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.