WEST virginia legislature
2017 regular session
Committee Substitute
for
Senate Bill 647
By Senators Jeffries, Beach, Miller, Ojeda, Plymale, Prezioso and Stollings
[Originating in the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development; reported on March 23, 2017]
A BILL to repeal §8A-12-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §11-22-2 of said code, relating generally to additional county excise taxes on the privilege of transferring real property; repealing the additional county excise tax on the privilege of transferring real property in counties where the county commission has created a farmland protection program; authorizing an additional county excise tax on the privilege of transferring real property in counties where the county commission has created either a farmland protection program or a certified development community program; setting forth certain requirements; and authorizing a larger additional county excise tax in a county with both a farmland protection program and a certified development community program.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8A-12-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be repealed; and that §11-22-2 of said code be amended and reenacted to read as follows: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; additional county tax to fund farmland protection and local economic development.
(a)(1) Every person
who delivers, accepts or presents for recording any document, or on whose
behalf any document is delivered, accepted or presented for recording, 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 $1.10 for each $500 value or fraction thereof as represented by the
document as defined in section one of this article. The state tax is payable at
the time of delivery, acceptance or presenting for recording of the
document is delivered, accepted or presented for recording.
(2) In addition to the state excise tax described in this
subsection, there is assessed a fee of $20 upon the privilege of transferring
real estate for consideration. The clerk of the county commission shall collect
the additional $20 fee before recording a transfer of title to real estate and
shall deposit the moneys from the additional fees into the West Virginia
Affordable Housing Trust Fund as provided in article eighteen-d, chapter
thirty-one of this code. The moneys collected from this additional fee shall be
segregated from other funds in the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund
and shall be accounted for separately. Not No more than ten
percent of these additional moneys the fee may be expended by the
West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund to defray actual administrative
and operating costs and expenses actually incurred by the West Virginia
Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The Housing Development Fund, as fiscal
agent of the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund, shall publish on
its website a monthly on the Internet site an accounting of all
revenue deposited into the fund during the that month and a full
disclosure of all expenditures from the fund, including the group receiving
funds, their its location and any contractor awarded the
construction contract contracts awarded. Additionally, the West
Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund is to provide an annual report to the
Joint Committee on Government and Finance before December 1, 2007, and of
each year thereafter.
(b)(1) Effective
January 1, 1968, and thereafter, there is imposed an An additional
county excise tax is imposed for the privilege of transferring title to
real estate at the rate of 55 cents for each $500 value or fraction thereof as
represented by such the document as defined in section one of
this article, which county tax shall be. It is payable at the
time of delivery, acceptance or presenting for recording of such the
document is delivered, accepted or presented for recording.: Provided,
That after July 1, 1989, the
(2) 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 Excluding the additional county tax set forth
in subsection (c) of this section, 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.
The tax shall be paid by the grantor therein unless the grantee
accepts the document without such the tax having been paid, in
which event such the tax shall be paid by the grantee. Provided
further, That on 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. The county excise tax imposed under by
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 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 is 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 include the county in which such
the county commission is located.
(c)(1) In addition to the taxes imposed by this article, any county commission that establishes and implements a farmland protection program pursuant to article twelve, chapter eight-a of this code, or any county with an economic development corporation or authority, including without limitation, a development authority established under article twelve, chapter seven of this code operating within the county that participates in the certified development community program pursuant to article two, chapter five-b of this code, may impose an additional county excise tax for the privilege of transferring title to real estate at a rate of no more than $1.10 for each $500 value or fraction thereof, as represented by any document as defined in section one of this article, payable at the time of delivery, acceptance or presentation for recording of the document. The additional tax imposed pursuant to this subsection is to be used exclusively for the purposes of funding the county’s farmland protection program or the operations, programs or activities of the local economic development corporation or authority, or both, at the sole discretion of the county commission.
(2) If a county commission elects to fund both the county’s farmland protection program and the operations, programs or activities of the local economic development corporation or authority, then the commission may impose the additional county excise tax authorized in this subsection at a rate of up to $2.20 for each $500 value or fraction thereof, as represented by any document as defined in section one of this article, payable at the time of delivery, acceptance or presentation for recording of the document, and shall divide all proceeds thereof equally between the county’s farmland protection program and the local economic development corporation or authority.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to repeal §8A-12-21 which imposes an additional county excise tax on the privilege of transferring real property for the purposes of funding farmland preservation, and to replace the same by amending §11-22-2 to add subsection (c) which provides for an additional county excise tax on the privilege of transferring real property for the purposes of funding the county farmland preservation program and the operations, programs and activities of the local economic development corporation or authority.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.