West Virginia voters will decide whether to approve Amendment 2 on
November 8, which if approved, will allow the state legislature to
eliminate tangible personal property taxes for businesses as well as the
personal property tax for vehicles, without an agreed upon plan to make up
at least $500 million a year in lost revenue for counties, cities and
schools. This is the definition of fiscal irresponsibility. What will
happen if our state budget surplus turns into a deficit? Where do you
think the money will come from to make up the deficit? I have a bad
feeling that the state legislature may adopt a property tax scheme similar
to that of Pennsylvania or Ohio. Which means you the taxpaying resident
will make up the difference. Just the title of Amendment 2, “Property Tax
Modernization Amendment” speaks volumes about what could happen.
It appears that West Virginia is trying to copy Ohio in eliminating
tangible personal property taxes (TPP). Ohio phased out its TPP from 2006
until 2009 and they were completely phased out in 2011 with
telecommunications property. To make a long, convoluted tax story short,
local governments and schools ended up losing funding. In 2006, the
nonprofit Tax Foundation ranked Ohio as the 13th most expensive state for
property taxes as a percentage of home value on owner-occupied housing. In
2020, Ohio’s rank was the 9th most expensive state. Compare that to West
Virginia: the 2006 rank was the 45th most expensive and in 2020, that
figure actually decreased to the 46th most expensive state.
This issue is personal to me, as my immediate family and I moved to West
Virginia from McKees Rocks, Pa. to escape high property taxes.
Pennsylvania residents pay property taxes levied by three different
entities: the county, municipality and the local school district. As a
simple example, residents of McKees Rocks owe $4045.50 a year in property
taxes on real estate that has an assessed value of $100,000 or $1246.01 a
year on real estate at the median assessed value of $30,800, using 2022
millage rates. That is one of the lower class municipalities in Allegheny
County. There are some folks in higher class municipalities such as Fox
Chapel that owe over $39,000 a year in property taxes. In addition, there
is the Local Services Tax that is owed and a Local Wage Tax that may be
applicable. If you want to strike a nerve with a Pennsylvania resident,
just bring up property taxes, especially the school tax portion. Since
Pennsylvania is one of the few states that has no tax on tangible personal
property, it is a perfect illustration of what is not collected in one
possible tax category is made up in another.
If Amendment 2 is approved, I am afraid that what is happening in
Pennsylvania and Ohio with taxes could happen in West Virginia, which will
be an expensive and irreversible mess for residents while giving tax cuts
to big corporations.
Edward W. Zawatski
Weirton, WV.
(304) 723-2368
