HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 104
(By Delegates R. Thompson and Perdue)
[Introduced February 5, 2002; referred to the
Committee on Constitutional Revision then the Judiciary.]
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West
Virginia, amending section one, article ten thereof, relating
to taxation and finance; and changing from three to four years
the maximum number of years of an excess levy; numbering and
designating such proposed amendment; and providing a
summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed
amendment.
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two thirds of
the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:
That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment
to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to
the voters of the State at the next general election to be held in
the year two thousand two, which proposed amendment is that section
one, article ten thereof, be amended to read as follows:
ARTICLE X. TAXATION AND FINANCE.
§1. Taxation and finance.
Subject to the exceptions in this section contained, taxation
shall be equal and uniform throughout the state, and all property,
both real and personal, shall be taxed in proportion to its value
to be ascertained as directed by law. No one species of property
from which a tax may be collected shall be taxed higher than any
other species of property of equal value; except that the aggregate
of taxes assessed in any one year upon personal property employed
exclusively in agriculture, including horticulture and grazing,
products of agriculture as above defined, including livestock,
while owned by the producer, and money, notes, bonds, bills and
accounts receivable, stocks and other similar intangible personal
property shall not exceed fifty cents on each one hundred dollars
of value thereon and upon all property owned, used and occupied by
the owner thereof exclusively for residential purposes and upon
farms occupied and cultivated by their owners or bona fide tenants,
one dollar; and upon all other property situated outside of
municipalities, one dollar and fifty cents; and upon all other
property situated within municipalities, two dollars; and the
Legislature shall further provide by general law for increasing the
maximum rates, authorized to be fixed, by the different levying
bodies upon all classes of property, by submitting the question to the voters of the taxing units affected, but no increase shall be
effective unless at least sixty percent of the qualified voters
shall favor such increase, and such increase shall not continue for
a longer period than three four years at any one time, and shall
never exceed by more than fifty percent the maximum rate herein
provided and prescribed by law; and the revenue derived from this
source shall be apportioned by the Legislature among the levying
units of the state in proportion to the levy laid in said units
upon real and other personal property; but property used for
educational, literary, scientific, religious or charitable
purposes, all cemeteries, public property, the personal property,
including livestock, employed exclusively in agriculture as above
defined and the products of agriculture as so defined while owned
by the producers may by law be exempted from taxation; household
goods to the value of two hundred dollars shall be exempted from
taxation. The Legislature shall have authority to tax privileges,
franchises, and incomes of persons and corporations and to classify
and graduate the tax on all incomes according to the amount thereof
and to exempt from taxation incomes below a minimum to be fixed
from time to time, and such revenues as may be derived from such
tax may be appropriated as the Legislature may provide. After the year nineteen hundred thirty-three, the rate of the state tax upon
property shall not exceed one cent upon the hundred dollars
valuation, except to pay the principal and interest of bonded
indebtedness of the state now existing.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of
article eleven, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, such proposed
amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment No. 1" and designated as
the "Maximum Number of Years of Excess Levies Amendment" and the
purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "The
purpose of this amendment is to increase from three years to four
years the maximum number of years of excess levies."
NOTE: The purpose of this joint resolution is to amend the
constitutional provision that provides that the maximum number of
years for excess levies is three years and to increase this to four
years.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present constitution, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.