Introduced Version
House Bill 3154 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 3154
(By Delegates Kessler, Burdiss, Reynolds,
Shook, Martin and D. Poling)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the
Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §11-13A-3b of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to increasing the rate of
tax paid on the privilege of severing timber and eliminating
the exemptions allowing reductions from the tax; creating a
means of collecting the tax; and imposing criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §11-13A-3b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 13A. SEVERANCE TAXES.
§11-13A-3b. Imposition of tax on privilege of severing timber.
(a) Imposition of tax. -- For the privilege of engaging or
continuing within this state in the business of severing timber for
sale, profit or commercial use, there is hereby levied and shall be
collected from every person exercising such privilege an annual
privilege tax.
(b) Rate and measure of tax. -- The tax imposed in subsection
(a) of this section shall be three and twenty-two hundredths five
percent of the gross value of the timber produced, as shown by the
gross proceeds derived from the sale thereof by the producer.
except as otherwise provided in this article: Provided, That as to
timber produced after the thirty-first day of December, two
thousand six, the rate of the tax imposed in subsection (a) of this
section shall be one and twenty-two hundredths percent of the gross
value of the timber produced, as shown by the gross proceeds
derived from the sale thereof by the producer, except as otherwise
provided in this article
(c) Tax in addition to other taxes. -- The tax imposed by this
section shall apply to all persons severing timber in this state
and shall be in addition to all other taxes imposed by law.
(d) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, it shall be the responsibility of the person that owns
the timber to insure the tax imposed hereunder is paid. It shall,
additionally, be the obligation of any receiving sawmill or
processing plant of severed timber to record all purchases and
withhold appropriate sums upon which the tax hereunder is levied.
Sawmills and processing plants shall also maintain the records
required by this subsection for random inspection by the State
Auditor. Sawmills and processing plants shall remit all collected
taxes to the State Department of Revenue every calender quarter along with all applicable records used to calculate the amount of
tax paid.
(e) Severed timber intended to be hauled outside the state
shall first be evaluated for the gross value by the sawmill or
processing plant prior to being transported. Each transporter
shall keep on his or her person a copy of the recorded calculation
upon which the sawmill or processing plant withheld any sums
intended to be dedicated to the tax required to be paid.
Transporters shall be subject to random stop checks by Department
of Weights and Measures officials who are authorized to enforce
collection of the tax and to otherwise enforce the requirements of
this section. Any sawmill or processing plant subject to the
provisions of this section shall insure that the proper amount of
tax is withheld and paid over to the Department of Revenue.
(f) The Tax Commissioner is hereby directed to propose rules
for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, designed to
fully implement the provisions of this section.
(g) Any person who intentionally violates the provisions of
this section by failing to pay over the proper amount of tax due is
guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined ten
thousand dollars for each separate violation and shall be confined
in a correctional facility for a period of six months for each such
offense of which he or she is convicted.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the rate of tax
paid on the privilege of severing timber and eliminating the
exemptions allowing reductions from the tax while creating a means
of collecting the tax. The bill also imposes criminal penalties.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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