One of my friends recently posted about the large amount of money she had to pay for Virginia's Car Tax. With a critical election just a few short months away, I find it very interesting that I've done so little to help legislative Republicans. Part of the reason is that I do it every day as part of my "day job," but a big reason is the Virginia Car Tax which General Assembly Republicans refuse to even address...and increased as recently as 2013. The following is my response to her and explains why we must Ax The Tax Now!
This is why I consistently hammer Republican politicians over this. I am a life-long Republican and love my party, but our side should step up to the plate on this. 1. There is no purpose for the tax and revenue lost to municipalities will not impact services such as police, fire, schools, or parks. 2. Substantial savings will accrue from eliminating the infrastructure needed to assess and collect the tax. Evaluating automobiles and taxing them is not the same as doing this for real property. As such, much of the revenue is eaten up by the taxing infrastructure...before going to any priorities the municipalities outline.
3. What's even worse than the tax itself is the sticker fees...which are to register your car with the county. BUT, the counties--in this Dillon Rule state--are vassals of the Commonwealth, so we are being charged twice to facilitate maintaining an unnecessary, duplicative local registry. If the counties, cities, or towns need information on a vehicle, they can get it via computer immediately from the Commonwealth. Eliminating this tax and this separate system would actually SAVE money and resources.
4. Nobody likes paying the tax. When you consider how close the GOP is to losing our majorities in the General Assembly, you wonder why they won't take the action needed to help fortify their position by improving the economic picture for all Virginians.
It's taxes like this (I'll be paying about $1K, late, for last year to Fairfax County's collection agency) that make me less enthusiastic about burning multiple Saturdays, Sundays, and otherwise to campaign for legislators who show up later and ignore these basic, reasonable, and bi-partisan requests.
Jim Gilmore had it right: ax the (car) tax!
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