Clarksburg Exponent-Telegram – The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy has released a study suggesting that raising the state’s severance tax on natural gas liquids could increase revenue and help West Virginia profit from the use of the “wet gas” in-state. Read
According to the study, a plan to increase the gas severance tax from 5 percent to 10 or 15 percent could increase state revenue by about $168 million over the next five years. The plan would offer tax incentives that would reduce the effective severance tax rate for the gas and liquids that are used in ethane cracker plants or other downstream industries in West Virginia.
Sean O’Leary, a policy analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy, told the Charleston Gazette-Mail that the plan isn’t focused on incentivizing the production of more natural gas, but rather making sure that the natural gas produced in the state is creating more jobs here.
