Tomblin Rejects Proposal To Increase Severance Taxes

{Charleston, West Virginia}...Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said Thursday he will not take up a proposal to increase West Virginia's coal and natural gas severance taxes to pump money into a proposed "Economic Diversification Trust Fund" that would fund long-term economic development, education and infrastructure projects. The West Virginia Center for Budget and Policy says an additional 1 percent severance tax on coal and natural gas could raise $5.8 billion in revenue over the next quarter-century. Officials from the center, a progressive think tank, said their proposed fund would be an investment in protecting the state from volatile energy markets and preparing for the day when West Virginia's mineral resources are played out. Senate President Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, has proposed a similar effort he calls the "Future Fund," but rejected the center's version because it includes a tax increase.