In 1980, a coalition of citizens groups, with backing from the Appalachian Regional Commission, surveyed property taxes and land ownership in West Virginia. They found that individual homeowners were paying far more than their fair share of property taxes as compared to large land companies, railroads, timber, coal and gas companies. They also found that coal company equipment was not taxed as steeply as cars and trucks.
West Virginia's Constitution requires that property be appraised at its true and actual value. The market value of the property should be reflected in the property tax. This holds true for individual homeowners. But in many counties, most of the surface land and all the minerals are owned by corporations such as Norfolk and Southern Railroad, Georgia-Pacific, Consolidation Coal, and Columbia Gas. The appraisals on these absentee land holders were absurdly low.
For example, in McDowell County in 1980, Pocahontas Land Company, and N & S subsidiary, owned one-third of the county's surface land. This land was appraised at $12.48 cents an acre, and only produced 16 cents an acre in property tax. This situation was repeated across McDowell County and many other counties as well.
Despite subsequent reappraisals, this situation has hardly improved. The State Tax Department has been challenged on numerous occasions to come up with fair appraisals, but every administration, Democratic and Republican, has refused to make absentee owners pay their fair share of property tax. The biggest losers are West Virginia's schools. Fair taxation would alleviate much of the financial pressure on our school systems, allow for needed improvements and forestall school closings. Our communities also are hurt, as many counties struggle to provide basic infrastructure like sewage and water systems.
And of course there is the average West Virginia property owner, who is taking a bath.
