Tax Justice Digest stories about West Virginia
Kaiser focused his comments on the number of Oklahomans who could receive health care (125,000) and the raises that could be given to teachers ($1,300 each) if the state's priorities changed and the average $75 million in tax credits given to the energy industry over the last four years were put toward other priorities.
Business analysts know that if a company is making business decisions based on tax breaks, then the company isn't on very strong footing to begin with. But comments like these made by billionaire businessmen are quite helpful in cutting through the false claims made about taxes.
States' collective fiscal outlook appears to be quite dim and could get even darker in the months ahead according to a report released this week by the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL). The report notes that, in the aggregate, states experienced a $40 billion budget gap for fiscal year 2009, a chasm that has been bridged largely through reductions in spending.
Not every state's budget is shrouded in gloom, however. Some states derive significant revenue from severance taxes (taxes imposed on the extraction of natural resources like oil and natural gas) and have economies closely tied to these industries. These states, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Wyoming for example, are enjoying substantial budget surpluses.
Given the volatility of energy markets, these surpluses are likely a temporary phenomenon, but that hasn't stopped states from considering and enacting tax cuts that would permanently reduce revenue. Earlier this year, Louisiana briefly weighed the idea of repealing its income tax altogether, only to settle on an oh-so-modest annual cut of $300 million. North Dakota has not only revived its property tax debate from a few years ago, but may also place on this November's ballot a measure that would slash the personal income tax by 50 percent and the corporate income tax by 15 percent. In this context, a plan backed by West Virginia Republicans to completely exempt groceries from the state sales tax appears far more reasonable in scope - and would certainly help to improve the progressivity of the state's tax system. However, it would still likely leave the
Perhaps the most responsible - and fair - approach to surpluses generated by skyrocketing severance tax revenue comes from New Mexico, where Governor Bill Richardson this past week put forward a proposal to dedicate the majority of the state's projected $400 million surplus to one-time tax rebates and to highway construction.
Lawmakers in these three states and others should investigate property tax credits that ensure that low-income folks aren't burdened by the tax. While it may be popular with constituents to discuss property tax cuts, it's vital that replacement revenue be identified as well.
The author of the O'Malley administration report that makes the economic development-based pitch for slots, Thomas Perez, claims that the introduction of slots in neighboring states has "revitalized the previously moribund horse racing industries in those states." Perez describes his report as "a fact finding tour of racetracks in Delaware, West Virginia and Pennsylvania." Perez's research techniques included counting the number of Maryland license plates in a West Virginia parking lot -- but his time might have been better spent just asking West Virginia's Racing Commission chairman, who sees "no correlation... inverse, in fact" between their 1994 introduction of slots at racetracks and the current health of that state's racing industry.
Combined reporting, as ITEP's February policy brief explains, is the "most effective approach to combating corporate tax avoidance" available to state lawmakers.
SB 749 would make
For more on combined reporting in
The highest court in West Virginia has rebuffed an attempt to further restrict the right of states to tax the profits of multi-state corporations.
As explained in a new ITEP paper, the U.S. Supreme Court has already restricted the ability of states to impose sales taxes on remote sales by out-of-state companies, and Congress passed a law back in 1959 that restricts states' ability to tax corporate income generated by remote sales of goods into a state. In West Virginia tax Commissioner v. MBNA America Bank, MBNA argued that their profits in West Virginia — its gross receipts in the state exceeded $10 million during one of the years in question — could not be taxed under the U.S. Constitution because MBNA had no physical presence in the state.
Fortunately, the court found that the amount of business MBNA has done in West Virginia amounts to "economic presence" in the state that benefits from the services provided by West Virginia — and that justifies the imposition of the state corporate income tax. Other state courts should follow West Virginia's lead in this area of jurisprudence.
