JohnH wrote:
> > I was/am against it because it came in such huge lumps. Buy a really
> > nice car, and pay $450 twice a year. Would rather pay $70 a month or
> > so, $18 a week, anything but huge bites like that.
>
> Regardless of the friggin *billing frequency* (which usually people only
> care about when they live from paycheck to paycheck), it's getting the boot
> because it's a stupid and arbitrary double tax. We already pay a sales tax
> when we buy the car, what sense does it make to keep paying over and over
> again just for the "privilege" to own our own property?

Why the car tax? Because Virginia is a Dillon rule state. A local
government can collect taxes only if the Commonwealth says so. The
Commonwealth gave local government the ability to set the property tax
and to collect restaurant sales tax and a few other taxes to collect
money needed to run the government.

Arlington may be the only jurisdiction that collects the restaurant
tax. Did you buy lunch in Arlington, but live in Woodbridge? Thanks, if
it weren't for that tax, there would be no Commuter Store and the
streets would be in horrible shape.

The northern Virginia communities established the highest sales taxes
allowed by law. The northern Virginia Counties taxed to the full extent
allowed by law. Did I repeat that?

With some exceptions, other jurisdictions did not tax to the full
amount allowed by law until there were shortfalls during an economic
downturn. Not as much tax coming from Fairfax to pay for schools in
Buchanan County for instance.

One exception on a tax not collected was the percentage tax on motor
fuel dedicated to METRO. Five cities and counties, IIRC, were
authorized to collect the "METRO" tax. Fairfax County, the tall pole in
the tent elected NOT to collect that "METRO" tax on fuel. Instead, the
Fairfax County METRO subsidy came from property taxes. Both personal
(car tax) and property (real estate).

If METRO was paid for with fuel taxes, there might be a stronger
understanding of the congestion problem and what has to be done to
solve it. There would be a greater understanding of the cost and
benefits of METRO. That's cost in big, bold, capital letters and
benefits in small lower case aggate type. IIRC, an averaage resident of
Fairfax County contributes about $100 per year to METRO via the
property tax.

The message promoted by elected officials is that fuel is cheap, use as
much as you want, when you want. Someone else will ride the train,
leaving room on the road for you. Don't bother with car pools or van
pools.

Real Estate taxes in Fairfax went up and Prince William County became a
more attractive place to live. No "ammenities" (schools, sewers, fire,
police) but still a thousand dollars a mile cheaper for a house in
Prince William. Van pools were a flourishing mom and pop business for a
while. Safer than anything else for commuters, BTW.

Virginia is presently considering legislation to allow collecting
impact fees to have the developer build infrastructure up front. If the
roads, sewers, schools, etc., aren't there when the people move in,
there isn't much chance that they will be provided in a timely manner.
The real school may be finished about the time your kids graduate.
Trailers until then. It is also cheaper to provide infrastructure from
the git-go than to provide it as an afterthought.

Real Eatate property taxes are normally handled in an escrow account
tacked on to the mortgage. Look at the escrow amoount on your mortgage
going to county taxes. Are you getting your money's worth?

Besides, if the escrow is set up correctly, you get interest on the
amount sitting in the bank. The County gets paid twice a year,
typically. You might get another $50 in interest on the tax escrow.
Point is, out of sight, out of mind. Unless you look, you never see the
real estate tax. And if you look, it is once a year when you get a
federal income tax deduction for paying the tax. So that tax looks like
a good thing.