H. B. 3172


(By Delegates Wills, Hrutkay,
Webster and Mahan)
[Introduced March 30, 2001; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions then Finance.]



A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article twenty-two, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to authorizing counties to impose and receive additional excise tax on the privilege of transferring title to real estate.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article twenty-two, 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 22. EXCISE TAX ON PRIVILEGE OF TRANSFERRING REAL PROPERTY.
§11-22-2. Rate of tax; when and by whom payable; additional county tax.

Every person who delivers, accepts or presents for recording any document or in whose behalf any document is delivered, accepted or presented for recording, shall be is subject to pay for and in respect to the transaction or any part thereof, a state excise tax upon the privilege of transferring title to real estate at the rate of one dollar and ten cents for each five hundred dollars' value or fraction thereof as represented by such the document as defined in section one hereof of this article, which state tax shall be is payable at the time of delivery, acceptance or presenting for recording of such the document.
Effective the first day of January, first one thousand nine hundred sixty-eight and thereafter, there is hereby imposed an additional county excise tax for the privilege of transferring title to real estate at the rate of fifty-five cents for each five hundred dollars' value or fraction thereof as represented by such the document as defined in section one hereof of this article, which county tax shall be is payable at the time of delivery, acceptance or presenting for recording of such the document: Provided, That after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred eighty-nine, the county may increase said the excise tax to an amount equal to the state excise tax. The additional tax hereby imposed is declared to be a county tax and to be used for county purposes: Provided, however, That only one such state tax and one such county tax shall be paid on any one document and shall be collected in the county where the document is first admitted to record, and the same it shall be paid by the grantor therein unless the grantee accepts the same document without such the tax having been paid, in which event such then the tax shall be paid by the grantee: Provided further, That on any transfer of real property from a trustee or a county clerk transferring real estate sold for taxes, such the tax shall be paid by the grantee: And provided further, That any county entitled to additional excise tax under the provisions of this section shall receive the pro rata share from the recording county on a multiple county land transaction. In counties not imposing the county excise tax, the person recording the instrument shall pay the additional tax to each county involved in a multiple county land transaction .
The county excise tax imposed under this section may not be increased in any county unless the increase is approved by a majority vote of the members of the county commission of such the county. Any county commission intending to increase the excise tax imposed in its county shall publish a notice of its intention to increase such the tax not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days prior to the meeting at which such the increase will be considered, such the notice to be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area shall be the county in which such the county commission is located.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow counties to collect a pro-rata share on land that is located in two or more counties.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.