A Local Income Tax for NOVA Residents?

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Chap

Today, the Senate effectively approved a local income tax for northern Virginia, by removing the referendum requirement in the current law.  The new tax will essentially be an extra 1% charge on the current income tax rate,  if approved by the local Board.  The argument was that these “new” funds will be dedicated to transportation, thus “solving” our transportation crisis.

I voted “no.”  I was the only Fairfax County senator to vote against it.

This is a mistake.  While income tax can raise a lot of revenue, it also is a tax that is EXCLUSIVELY paid by Virginia tax filers.  It is not paid by out-of-state users of our highway, who are 30% of our highway traffic.  It is not paid by Virginia residents who file out-of-state returns.  It is not paid by “cash only” businesses.

If agreed by the House, this bill would place a surcharge on northern Virginians, by requiring them to pay an extra tax for the same state service enjoyed by others for free.  (You get your roads paved by the state tax dollar.  We have a local income tax!)

My fear is that this bill has now become the “solution” for transportation, since it raises (on paper) enormous amounts of revenue.  And it represents the worst possible deal for the northern Virginia taxpayer.

 

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  • AMCIT

    Here’s hoping the House can kill it.

  • http://twitter.com/TheTysonsCorner TheTysonsCorner

    No chance the house will kill it. Here is my problem with all of this Chap. We need to stop playing by the rules if VDOT no longer wants to play by the rules. If they want to remove themselves from having to do the obligations that legally they are required to, via the payments we amply provide, then THAT is a breach of the contract.

    We have been begging far too long for just a slight amount back of our own money. End this whole non-sense about going to VDOT to get road maintenance and simply take back our own roads (with the caveat) that we no longer pay Richmond the gas tax and instead can attain the tax from ourselves TO ourselves.

    That also allows us to provide the kind of innovative road and transportation network that northern virginians (not VDOT) want.

  • http://twitter.com/MetroDerp Metro Derp

    Now, if that 1% were earmarked for WMATA – and if all the jurisdictions enacted an identical 1% levy – then we might finally solve WMATA’s ongoing lack of dedicated funding. But to do it and then devote it to roads is just entirely misguided.

  • Anonymous

    until I see an actual accounting of NoVa gas tax revenues and VDOT expenditures in NoVa for construction, maintenance, and operations, I’m not convinced that NoVa gets shorted money on transportation and that INCLUDES WMATA.

    That’s a big problem when talking about the need for more money in my view.

    until people in each region can see a real accounting of their taxes vs the expenditures.. there is always gone to be arguments about who’s getting more than they pay for.

    Go to Commonwealth Data Point and get a proper accounting of virtually every penny of other taxes and expenditures in Va EXCEPT for fuel revenues and transportation expenditures.

  • Nova out

    Yet another great reason for us to move (including all of our income, property tax revenues, retail tax revenues and extra 1%food service fairfax city tax revenues) out of the state. Ridiculous. What about va beach / Hampton areas that have bad gridlock as well – are they getting the extra tax? This is like asking your older sibling for money because you can’t pay your own bills.