WVFA Mountain State Forestry Spring 2021

6 West Virginia Forestry Association Mountain State Forestry | Spring 2021 www.wvfa.org A s we navigate our way through the first quarter of 2021, business in the forest products industry is doing well. Domestically, housing starts are still trending upward coming off a year which had the highest adjusted annual rate in over a decade. Hardwood lumber export markets are strong in Asia and Europe with the only impediments being transportation and logistics as there are an insufficient number of containers to ship product. International demand for hardwood lumber is expected to remain robust over the coming months. Global demand for pulp is also rising. All of which is very positive news for the West Virginia forest products industry and for timberland owners in the Mountain State. We also have a new legislature with a leadership that is focused on improving the business climate in West Virginia. The top two issues are reducing and eventually eliminating the income tax and expanding access to broadband. Eliminating the income tax would give our state a major advantage over our five neighboring states by attracting business and investment and will help to encourage people to relocate here. As for broadband, many of us have been working from home and have had to conduct virtual meetings (via Teams, Zoom, Webex, etc.) from our home offices. For me personally, it has become blatantly obvious that West Virginia needs to improve its broadband network and access to high- speed internet in rural areas and I’m glad to see this as a top priority. Make no mistake, eliminating the income tax and improving our broadband infrastructure go hand in hand with economic development. One issue of concern is many of our forestland owner members who are classified under Managed Timberland received notices from their county assessors last month that their property taxes are going to increase dramatically—in some cases up to 21% for the 2021 tax year. This increase is due to the formula used to calculate tax liability. The tax department and WV Division of Forestry have both stated that the formula needs to be revised. WVFA is currently working with the commerce secretary and the tax commissioner to seek a remedy for the 2021 tax year and are very close to a resolution. In the meantime, WVFA will work with the tax commissioner and the West Virginia Division of Forestry to perform a comprehensive review of the Managed Timberland tax rate calculations in hopes it can be revised to better reflect current conditions. Any revisions to the formula will need to be accomplished legislatively. The legislative session begins on February 10 and ends on April 10. As always, WVFA will keep our members informed as the bills are introduced. “One issue of concern is many of our forestland owner members who are classified under Managed Timberland received notices from their county assessors last month that their property taxes are going to increase dramatically—in some cases up to 21% for the 2021 tax year. This increase is due to the formula used to calculate tax liability. The tax department and WV Division of Forestry have both stated that the formula needs to be revised.” John Holstine Board President M E S S A G E F R OM T H E P R E S I D E N T