Legislature 2010: Property Taxes

The House of Delegates may have passed the measure 95-1, but counties remain skittish about Gov. Joe Manchin's proposal to free certain kinds of business property from taxes, The Associated Press reports.

The resolution seeks to amend the state constitution, asking "voters to allow counties to decide whether to keep new business inventory and equipment off the tax rolls," the article said. "Voter approval would allow the Legislature to set the tax break's terms and a date from when acquired inventory or equipment would qualify."

But counties are worried about replacing the lost revenue. Flexibility added to the measure has eased that concern among some counties, while stoking it with others, AP reports.

"To win over counties, Manchin tweaked his proposal to let them each choose both whether to allow exemptions, and which classes of business to apply it to," the article said.