At a regional meeting of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission Delegate Dave LaRock objected to the proposed 1 cent increase in sales tax for the entire metro region. You may remember we had a similar increase in sales tax when the Virginia General Assembly passed the big tax increase ever in 2013. Northern Virginia and Tidewater pay 5.3 cents on every dollar we spend, while the rest of the state pays 4.3%. With the latest proposed tax increase, Northern Virginian’s tax will increase to 6.3 cents.
The plan hopes to bring in $650 million a year to help dig Metro out of the current mess that it’s in.
Delegate LaRock is objecting to the tax increases because Northern Virginia will be paying 51% of the tax, the District will pay 23% while Montgomery and Prince George’s county will pay a combined 26%. The doesn’t seem quite seem quite fair, does it? LaRock agrees, he addressed the District’s chief financial officer, Jeffrey S. DeWitt,
“How is this not Washington, D.C., passing off its financial liabilities to Virginia?”
Dewitt responded say this was just an opening discussion, not the final solution.
Read much more here.
