Tax Modernization Group to Reconvene

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Gov. Joe Manchin and West Virginia State Tax Commissioner Christopher G. Morris today announced the reformation of the West Virginia Tax Modernization Project. 

“West Virginia continues to make great strides in improving the state and local tax structure for both individuals and businesses,” Manchin said. “I am calling upon some of the state’s leaders in government, private enterprise and labor to work together to identify additional tax areas in need of improvement.”

The continued efforts of the West Virginia Tax Modernization Project work group will be led by Secretary of Revenue Virgil Helton, the state tax commissioner and a number of other officials from the Department of Revenue and State Tax Department.  Also involved in the workgroup will be Dr. Tom Witt, Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research in the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics; Dr. Cal Kent, Vice-President of Business and Economic Research for the Center for Business and Economic Research at Marshall University; Steve Roberts, president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce; Kenny Perdue, president of the West Virginia AFL-CIO; and, other officials from both West Virginia University and Marshall University.

The 2006 Tax Modernization Project Report to the governor served as a blueprint to modernize the state tax code, and included numerous policy recommendations that resulted in the reduction or elimination of certain taxes. The report also resulted in changes that simplified West Virginia’s tax structure, leading to a more efficient and fair tax system in the state.  Some of these changes include:

•      the reduction of the food tax;

•      the elimination of the corporate license tax;

•      the elimination of the personal income tax for low income West Virginians;

•      the doubling of a homestead credit for low income seniors;

•      the reduction of the corporate net income tax, which began in 2007, from 9.00 percent to 6.5 percent in 2014;

•      the  phase out of the business franchise tax, which began in 2007, from 0.70 percent to 0 percent in 2015;

•      the simplification of certain tax filing requirements through the Tax Department’s integrated tax system;

•      the disqualification of taxpayers who are subject to the federal alternative minimum tax from certain household tax credits aimed at low income taxpayers;

•      the elimination of the state’s alternative minimum tax in 2010; and,

•      the amendment of certain withholding tax requirements of non-residents in order to ensure that residents and non-resident are treated equally.

“This year, the Tax Modernization Project participants will review the recommendations from the 2006 report that have been adopted, as well as those that we need to revisit,” Morris said. “The tax modernization group will continue to explore changes that further simplify West Virginia’s tax structure in order to move West Virginia forward on the path to fair, progressive taxation.”

Information regarding future meetings will be forthcoming.