Proposals Forwarded to Enable West Virginia Business Tax Reform

An academic leader in West Virginia for many years, Robin Capehart previously served as the president of West Liberty University, where he oversaw increased enrollment and an expanded scope of program offerings. Robin Capehart has been extensively involved in legislative issues and, as the former chair of the Governor's Commission on Fair Taxation, he advocated for ending taxes assessed on business capital investments in machinery, inventory, and equipment. 

With such taxes seen as penalizing businesses that want to improve their infrastructure, the West Virginia state Senate is centered on enacting meaningful reform that has been recommended for two decades. One area of discussion among lawmakers is compensating for potential tax revenue loss through a lengthy tax phase-out process and replacing personal property taxes with real property taxes. As described by Senate President Mitch Carmichael, the latter strategy would generate a relatively small impact, as a large part of that tax is “exported” to out-of-state property owners. Another proposal in play for enacting reform while preserving state coffers involves broadening the tax base by eliminating a number of sales tax exemptions.

A Brief History of Tax Reform in American Government

As president of West Liberty University in Wheeling, West Virginia, from 2007 until 2015, Robin Capehart presided over one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in the region. Today, he serves as a senior fellow with the Public Policy Foundation of West Virginia. In this position, Robin Capehart also uses his extensive experience as a government advisor on tax reform to conduct research and author papers on issues of importance to the economic and social well-being of the state and the nation.

Tax reform in the United States has a lengthy and complex history. For almost a century after its founding, the country funded its operations largely through tariffs, only establishing a limited income tax during the Lincoln administration. Just seven years after the Civil War concluded, Congress rescinded that tax.

Thinking on the issue changed in 1913, when legislation permitted the imposition of a new federal income tax. Tax rates burgeoned during World War I, with the very top rate hovering in the 90 percent range until John F. Kennedy pushed through a significant tax cut. Since then, presidents have initiated major tax cuts about once in a generation.

Major successes in tax reform include a report by William Simon, treasury secretary under President Gerald Ford. The Department of the Treasury’s 1977 Blueprints for Basic Tax Reform had long-lasting policy effects.

The Reagan administration achieved a high point in tax reform in the 1980s, when it not only slashed taxes, but also anchored reform in a thoroughgoing simplification and consolidation of the tax code.

School Choice Champions See Opportunities in West Virginia

As the president of West Liberty University in West Virginia for close to a decade, Robin Capehart directed the administration of one of the state’s oldest institutions of higher education. Today, he serves as a senior resident scholar at the Public Policy Foundation of West Virginia. An accomplished scholar and attorney in the field of taxation and tax reform, Robin Capehart has also served as a consultant to state government on that subject.

In addition to his work as the head of West Liberty University, Mr. Capehart maintains a strong interest in education policy in general. He has authored several papers on that topic, published in recent years in Public Policy Quarterly. In particular, he favors broadening of school choice, which was among the pioneering standards put forth by President George H. W. Bush’s administration at the 1989 Education Summit.

Proponents of school choice emphasize the importance of respecting the rights of individual families to determine the best type of school for their own children. Charter schools, magnet schools, voucher funding, and homeschooling are among the possible means of increasing school choice available to communities.

Charter schools are not currently approved in West Virginia, yet proponents believe that their cause is gaining ground. Two members of the statewide school board recently resigned, offering the governor the opportunity to reorganize educational infrastructure. In addition, elected officials and the public alike have expressed a lack of confidence in current educational bureaucracy.

West Virginia Tax Reform - Excess Acreage Tax

The past president of West Liberty University, Robin Capehart served as chairman of the West Virginia Governor’s Commission on Fair Taxation from 1997 to 2000. As the commission’s chairman, Robin Capehart coauthored a 1999 study of West Virginia’s tax structure. The nearly 1,000-page report determined that the state’s tax system was burdened by an overly complicated and regressive structure that was still geared to an early-20th-century economy.

The Excess Acreage Tax is one of many specific examples outlined in the report of outdated tax measures that do not fit the economy and society of West Virginia today. Established in 1905, the Excess Acreage Tax imposes a one-time tax of $0.05 per acre on any corporation purchasing 10,000 acres or more of property in West Virginia. However, this does little to address the state’s historic economic problem of high rates of absentee land and mineral ownership. In 2012, West Virginia’s top 25 landowners owned about 18 percent of private land in the state, but none of the 10 largest owners had their headquarters in West Virginia.

The commission’s report recommended several changes to modernize the Excess Acreage Tax to reflect today's economic and fiscal situation . These recommendations included increasing the tax from $0.05 per acre to $0.50 per acre, lowering the property size threshold to 1,000 acres, making the tax annual rather than a one-time measure, and allowing taxed corporations to claim a credit against West Virginia’s severance tax. Based on data from the West Virginia Property Tax Department, adopting these changes could generate an estimated $1.7 million in annual tax revenue.

West Virginia May Repeal Personal Property Taxes for Businesses

Robin Capehart served as the president of West Liberty University in West Virginia for eight years. Before Robin Capehart became the head of West Liberty, he led comprehensive tax reform efforts as the Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Tax and Revenue. Tax reform remains a major issue in West Virginia, with the newest proposal involving the repealing of personal property taxes for businesses in the state.

Recently, State Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher and other government officials spoke out in support of a proposal to eliminate the personal property taxes that businesses are required to pay on various types of equipment and machinery. While the measure would require an amendment to the state’s constitution, a growing number of supporters are pushing for the change.

The proposed amendment would make West Virginia more appealing to business owners. Currently, Pennsylvania and Ohio have no such tax, and Virginia has put an exemption on machinery and equipment to benefit business owners. Individuals thinking about where to open a business may prefer these states because of lower taxation rates.

The downside of the repeal is that it could affect area schools. In 2016, the personal property taxes earned $589 million in revenue, a large portion of which when to county school boards.

In a recent appearance on Statewide Talkline, Capehart noted that such a proposal was a major part of the recommendations of Governor Underwood's Commission on Fair Taxation. However, Capehart told Talkline host, Hoppy Kercheval, that undertaking such a move should be done in the context of a revenue neutral, comprehensive tax reform package.

A Need for Comprehensive West Virginia Tax Reform

Formerly the president of West Liberty University, Robin Capehart oversaw a wide range of activities that significantly boosted enrollment and got the community more involved in campus life. Robin Capehart’s experience beyond leading West Liberty University includes a past role as West Virginia’s Secretary of Tax and Revenue, and he has focused on enacting comprehensive tax reform.

In a 2015 interview, Mr. Capehart spoke of the present tax system having its roots in the 19th century and the Great Depression and not reflecting the dynamics of the current economy. As he saw it, the need to broaden the state’s tax base and take a comprehensive look at the entire tax structure rather than simply tinker around the edges is particularly acute.

Unfortunately, taking aim at a single issue such as the corporate net income tax can have unforeseen consequences on other aspects of the tax system. There have already been limited efforts to modernize the tax system, with Senator Joe Manchin taking on recommendations and addressing the regressive aspects of taxes, such as a need for greater personal income tax exemptions in a way that reflects federal poverty levels. The present reforms centered on ensuring that local control was greater, particularly with regard to activities of the Municipal Home Rule Board, and in addressing the business tax structure.

American Bar Association Helps Launch Online Platform for Veterans

During his eight-year tenure as the president of West Liberty University in West Virginia, Robin Capehart helped the educational institution to increase enrollment and improve student and faculty programs. Prior to becoming the president of West Liberty, Robin Capehart worked in the legal field as an attorney and a chief administrative law judge. Today, he serves as a member of the American Bar Association.

In a recent statement, the American Bar Association announced that it is partnering with the law firm Jones Day to launch a web-based platform that will connect veterans with attorneys offering pro bono legal services. The platform, VetLex, is currently open for attorneys and legal organizations to register and create a profile outlining the types of cases with which they can assist.

VetLex will be available in key pilot cities by Veterans Day, and it is set to roll out nationwide in the following year. In addition to using the site to obtain assistance with civil, criminal, and administrative matters, veterans can turn to VetLex for legal paperwork and information about basic legal concepts. More information about the platform can be found at https://vetlex.org.

The One Foundation’s Grant to West Virginia University’s Justice Lab

A former president of West Liberty University, Robin Capehart led the institution to increase its overall and adult enrollment by 15.5 and 25.6 percent, respectively. In addition to his higher education experience, he is an attorney who previously served as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Marshall County, West Virginia. Robin Capehart received his JD from West Virginia University (WVU), which recently received a grant from the One Foundation.

The One Foundation recently provided a $30,000 grant to the Department of Geology and Geography’s Food Justice Lab at WVU. The funds are to be used to further the work of the FIRSTHAND Coffee Cooperative, a youth-led coffee project that began at WVU in 2012. The FIRSTHAND Coffee Cooperative operates a fair-trade coffee business that shares profits with communities that grow coffee and with communities in the West Virginia coalfields.

The One Foundation’s grant will support the FIRSTHAND Coffee Cooperative’s Mountains to Mountains campaign, part of the cooperative’s social impact mission. The campaign raises funds to promote income diversification and support food sovereignty projects both locally and throughout the world’s mountain communities.

National Tax Association to Hold 110th Annual Conference on Taxation

Fleet Solutions president Robin Capehart is a multi-industry professional with experience in the legal, academic, and tax sectors. A former president for West Liberty University, Robin Capehart maintains membership with a number of professional organizations that include the National Tax Association (NTA). The NTA is preparing for its 110th Annual Conference on Taxation. 

Focused on policy-relevant research relating to taxation and government, the NTA conference explores a wide range of industry topics that range from taxation and tax policies to government budgeting and international public finance. Participants will have the opportunity to network with others in their field and earn continuing education credits through sessions on housing markets and local public finance.

The agenda will also include a plenary panel discussion on tax reform, a speaker’s luncheon, and initiatives for graduate students. Plenary discussions and the speaker’s luncheon will feature speakers from a variety of financial institutions and academic programs, such as the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The National Tax Association 110th Annual Conference on Taxation will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton Philadelphia City Center in Pennsylvania on November 9 through November 11, 2017.

West Liberty University's Successful Capital Fundraising Initiative

Fleet Solutions International president Robin Capehart formerly served an eight-year term as president of West Liberty University (WLU), where he worked to expand the school’s reach and enhance the student experience. Robin Capehart spearheaded several improvements at the West Virginia educational institution, including spurring an unprecedented period of fundraising. 

In October 2012, Mr. Capehart led WLU in launching a capital campaign with the goal of evolving into a truly great university. The initiative sought to raise funds for improvements to campus buildings including the Campbell Hall of Health Sciences, Kelly Theatre, and multiple athletic facilities.

During the WLU Capital campaign, fundraising increased dramatically. After the first semester of the 2013-2014 academic year, the school had already raised double what it had taken in during the previous year. From 2007 to 2014, the university grew its yearly fundraising total from $862,479 to more than $5 million. In addition, the school more than doubled the average fundraising amount offered per donor.

The success of West Liberty’s fundraising enabled the school to improve the student experience in several ways. The new influx of private resources allowed the university to curb student costs while maintaining the quality of its programs. WLU’s successful fundraising also allowed it to greatly expand its scholarship opportunities. From 2008 to 2014, its scholarship fund grew by an impressive 155 percent, jumping from just over $2 million to $5.1 million.

U.S. News and World Report’s Tier Ranking System for Universities

Robin Capehart is a current film producer and senior consultant that has prior experience as the president of West Liberty University in West Virginia. As the President of West Liberty, Robin Capehart provided strategic leadership that helped elevate the institution from a Tier 3 to a Tier 1 ranked university by US News & World Report.

US News & World Report, which originated as a weekly newspaper in 1933, is a media company that produces a range of content across multiple platforms. In addition to service based news and user guides, the organization releases annual rankings of the top hospitals, graduate schools, and colleges.

Prior to 2017, US News & World Report use the Carnegie Classification system to rank colleges and universities. These classification areas included Doctoral, Master's, Bachelor's, Bachelor's and Associates and Associates. Each classification included a ranking based upon data gathered and analyzed on each school in up to fifteen academic areas, which contributes to the overall composite score for each school. Tiers are utilized to separate schools within each classification.