By Mike Tony, Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state House Energy and Manufacturing Committee approved referring a bill to the House Finance Committee Tuesday that would change how the State Tax Department values producing oil and gas wells for property tax purposes and the appeals process for all property taxes in the state. This would provide a more expansive definition of operating expenses for gas and oil producers in another industry-friendly move by the committee.
House Bill 2581‘s provisions include allowing expenses from lifting, processing, transportation and other industry activities to be subtracted from wells’ income and require the tax department to resurvey well expenses every three years unless natural gas contracts or the average oil price traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange changes more than 20% from the last year a survey was completed, meaning state administrative costs would increase in unstable markets.
The bill would expand the jurisdiction of the Office of Tax Appeals to include property tax valuation, classification and taxability, allow petitioners to appeal to a county Board of Equalization and Review or the Office of Tax Appeals and eliminate the Board of Assessment Appeals.
“It’s a fairly complicated statute, but right now you’ve got two chances at the county level, so you’re making the same argument to the same body a few months apart wanting a different result, and if you don’t get the result under the current system, you go to the circuit court,” committee counsel Robert Akers said. “So the new system will take you through the Office of Tax Appeals on the way to circuit court.” …