Two economic and tax related bills were sent to subcommittees to hammer out the details.
The House Committee on Small Business and Economic Development took up the two bills in its Wednesday meeting. The first bill, House Bill 4445, called the Economic Diversification Act of 2020, seeks to waive income tax and corporate net income tax for new businesses moving into the state that manufacture products or offer services that are currently not offered in West Virginia.
Under this bill, the business could receive tax relief for a maximum of 8 years. If the business could prove after the initial four years that no other business is providing these products or services, it could get the other four years.
Committee members mentioned a few concerns about the bill, including that it did not specify a cap on the tax relief.
House Bill 4445 was referred to a subcommittee.
The committee also took up House Bill 2724, which seeks to provide tax credits for small businesses. Under the bill, companies with fewer than 25 employees could receive a temporary tax credit up to 50% of branding, marketing, and advertising of agriculture of manufactured products produced and manufactured in West Virginia. The credit would be available for five years and would be up to $100,000 to be used against the corporate net income tax.
Due to the amount of questions on the bill, the committee assigned House Bill 2724 to a subcommittee.
