W.V Senate Votes To Repeal Soda Tax By 2024
Herald Dispatch
Lacie Pierson
Feb 16, 2022
CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Senate adopted a bill Thursday that will put an end to the state’s 71-year-old soda tax in the next two years.
The Senate adopted Senate Bill 533 in a 34-0 vote.
If it becomes law, the bill will eliminate the soda tax in July 2024. The soda tax has supported West Virginia University’s schools of medicine, dentistry, nursing and other health programs since the 1950s.
In place of soda tax revenue, WVU Health Sciences will receive $14 million from state insurance tax revenue under the bill. The soda tax generates about $14 million annually for WVU, Senate Finance general counsel Jeff Johnson told senators earlier this month.