Companies' Attorney Argues Severance Tax On Coal Is Sales Tax: ; State Counters, Saying If W.Va. Had Violated Law, Federal Government Would Have Intervened

Summary

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HUNTINGTON - An attorney for 11 coal companies has tried to persuade the state Supreme Court that West Virginia's severance tax on coal is a sales tax. If the justices agree, the state could be on the hook for paying back up to a half-billion dollars in collected taxes on coal exports.

The Import-Export clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from taxing products headed for export, coal company attorney Ned Rose said. And since the severance tax is calculated on the coal's sales price, it should be considered an illegal tax on exports, he argued.

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Companies' Attorney Argues Severance Tax On Coal Is Sales Tax: ; State Counters, Saying If W.Va. Had Violated Law, Federal Government Would Have Intervened

But Assistant Attorney General Stephen Stockton, representing the Tax Department, argued that if the federal government was concerned about West Virginia's severance tax on coal exports, a representat...

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