Dear Editor,
West Virginia voters will decide whether or not 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.
Sincerely,
Edward W. Zawatski
Weirton
