Senate Bill No. 600

(By Senator Sprouse)

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[Introduced March 26, 2001; referred to the Committee on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend article twenty-one, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section eight-h, relating to allowing a credit against personal income tax for the purchase of a computer.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article twenty-one, chapter eleven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section eight-h, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 21. PERSONAL INCOME TAX.
§11-21-8h. Credit for computer purchase.

(a) A credit against the tax imposed by the provisions of this article in an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars is allowed towards the purchase of a computer by a person, or persons if filing jointly, with an annual adjusted gross income of forty thousand dollars or less. The credit may not exceed the taxpayer's total tax liability under the other provisions of this article. The credit is effective for tax years beginning after the thirty-first day of December, two thousand.
(b) For purposes of this section, "computer" means an electronic, magnetic, optical, electrochemical, or other high speed data processing device the primary end use function of which includes performing logical, arithmetical, or data storage operations, and includes, but is not limited to, personal computers, desk-top computers, lap-top computers and palm-top computers .


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow a $500 personal income tax credit for persons making $40,000 or less who purchase a computer.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.