FISCAL NOTE
FUND(S):
State Road Fund
Sources of Revenue:
Other Fund State Road Fund
Legislation creates:
Neither Program nor Fund
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
The stated purpose of this bill is to distribute the State Treasurer’s “Road Fund” proportionally in each county according to the tax revenue generated from that county.
As written, the passage of this bill would have no revenue consequences on the State Road Fund. This bill proposes to redistribute Road Fund monies, after payment of principal and interest on state bonds issued for highway purposes, to counties according to gasoline tax revenue generated within each particular county for the purpose of construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of highways. However, under current law, the Motor Fuel Excise Tax is imposed and collected when the fuel is loaded into a delivery vehicle at the terminal (WV Code §14-C-6) for distribution throughout the State. From that point on, the tax is embedded into the cost of the fuel. Since the tax is not collected at each individual retail location, the State Tax Department is unable to determine the amount of gasoline sales (and resulting tax revenue) from any particular county. This bill does not provide a specific method for determining how the money is to be distributed to each county.
Additional administrative costs to the State Tax Department could be as high as $125,000 in the current fiscal year and about $66,000 thereafter, if new reporting requirements, returns, data capture and databases are deemed necessary due to the passage of this bill.
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2008
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2009
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
125,000 |
66,000 |
66,000 |
| Personal Services |
65,000 |
65,000 |
65,000 |
| Current Expenses |
12,000 |
1,000 |
1,000 |
| Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Other |
48,000 |
0 |
0 |
| 2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
As written, the passage of this bill would have no revenue consequences on the State Road Fund. This bill proposes to redistribute Road Fund monies, after payment of principal and interest on state bonds issued for highway purposes, to counties according to gasoline tax revenue generated within each particular county for the purpose of construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of highways. However, under current law, the Motor Fuel Excise Tax is imposed and collected when the fuel is loaded into a delivery vehicle at the terminal (WV Code §14-C-6) for distribution throughout the State. From that point on, the tax is embedded into the cost of the fuel. Since the tax is not collected at each individual retail location, the State Tax Department is unable to determine the amount of gasoline sales (and resulting tax revenue) from any particular county. This bill does not provide a specific method for determining how the money is to be distributed to each county.
Based upon a 2002 survey (prior to the change to collect tax at the terminal rack), those counties with gasoline stations conveniently located directly off interstate highway exits collected a disproportionate amount of gasoline tax revenue. Therefore, the passage of this bill would result in such counties receiving a higher than average share of the redistribution of road fund monies for their highways.
Additional administrative costs to the State Tax Department could be as high as $125,000 in the current fiscal year and about $66,000 thereafter, if new reporting requirements, returns, data capture and databases are deemed necessary due to the passage of this bill.
Memorandum
The stated purpose of this bill is to distribute the State Treasurer’s “Road Fund” proportionally in each county according to the tax revenue generated from that county.
This bill, as written, may conflict with current §11-14C-47(b), which requires the remaining tax collected to be expended “for the purpose of construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of highways, matching federal moneys available for highway purposes and payment of interest and sinking fund obligations on state bonds issued for highway purposes”. The proposed bill addresses only the payment of principal and interest on bonds, but none of the other stated purposes, and seeks to redirect the remaining monies in other ways.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Mark Muchow
Email Address: kpetry@tax.state.wv.us