The severance tax is not only an important source of revenue for the state’s budget; it also provides a substantial amount of revenue to local governments in West Virginia. In FY 2011, approximately $43.8 million in severance tax revenue was distributed to county and municipal governments throughout the state, including $37.7 million in coal severance…
Tax and Budget
(continued from Part 1 published 11/28/12) In FY 2012, the personal property tax produced over an estimated $122 million for the 55 county governments in West Virginia, accounting for more than 30 percent of all county property tax revenue. And since property taxes account for 63 percent of county government revenue, that means the personal property…
Today, the New York Times had an in-depth front page article exposing the $80 billion state and local governments bankroll businesses each year in subsides, including low-interest loans, grants, tax credits, and other gifts through the tax code. The report finds that West Virginia spends $1.57 billion per year on business incentives, ranking the state…
It seems every year, proposals are floated to remove West Virginia's property tax on business personal property or personal property in general. My first report with the WVCBP looked at the fiscal impact of eliminating the property tax on business machinery, equipment, inventory, and other business personal property, as recommended by then Governor Manchin back in 2010. In that…
Yesterday, Mark Muchow, the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Revenue, presented at November Legislative Interims on the future of state severance taxes. In his presentation (Severance Tax Trends -November 26, 2012), he found that severance taxes are going to decline and stagnant over the next few years because the boom in shale natural gas…
In this month's edition of Jobs Count, I looked at the Congressional Budget Office's report on the employment and GDP effects of the fiscal cliff. The CBO report spells out how many jobs lost and how much GDP would be reduced for each deficit reducing policy that is a part of the fiscal cliff. Overall,…
Last week, the Pew Center on the States released a report that looks at the impact of the "fiscal cliff" on state tax revenues and spending programs. The report also includes a nice fact sheet on the impact to West Virginia. On the revenue side, West Virginia, like several other states, is linked to the…
The independent think tank Headwaters Economics has released a report on the best fiscal practices for states and local governments with oil and natural gas extraction. The report states, "Drilling for oil and natural gas is a high-impact economic activity that presents opportunities and challenges for state and local governments seeking to reconcile the benefits of job and…
With the election over and the "fiscal cliff" drawing near, the nation's attention has once again turned to the federal government's budget deficit and the problems we face addressing it. Most agree that some combination of spending cuts and tax increases will be necessary in order to put the federal budget on a sustainable path,…
Friday's Daily Mail reported on the state's latest monthly revenue report. The report shows that the state ended October with a $3.8 million surplus over what the budget office had estimated. The surplus was credited to higher than expected corporate income and business franchise tax revenue, which are currently running 21 percent ahead of expectations. However,…