Monday, April 7, 2008

82% Back A Piggyback Tax

The poll is closed and 82% of those who responded favor Virginia Beach enacting an 1% piggyback income tax to replace a portion of the Property Tax. Such was a reccomendation of the Blue Ribbon Tax, Fee, and Spending Task Force.

I'm adamantly in favor of it, as changing how you tax will change city policy. Everyone engages in rhetoric about higher-paying jobs; however, given the Virginia tax code, the cities can tax spending infinitely more than they can tax income. Thus, cities have a small Return On Investment (ROI) for going after higher-paying jobs.

As a transplanted Marylander, I can tell you in my native state you pay 20%-50% on top of your state income tax to your county for local government. The rate varies between counties, and can only be changed with General Assembly approval.

That brings me to the new question, "How would you pay for the 7 regional transportation projects?" Five options are offered.

4 comments:

Michael Ragsdale said...

Sales Tax: This is how Pierce Transit is funded (at a rate of 0.6%). www.piercetransit.org

This is the transit system where my father lives. Have a look at especially Routes 1, 2, and 3 (Pierce internally calls them "Muscle Routes")

Michael Ragsdale said...

I'm surprised the VBTA didn't "carpetbomb" the poll

Avenging Archangel said...

Michael,

Roads will probably always eclipse transit. That's why I want to get the region's roads package dealt with now: with it out of the way, we can push transit to the front burner.

I prefer a 2 cent regional Gas Tax for transit funding. Gasoline has a more direct relationship.

Michael Ragsdale said...

No problem with that. It makes sense (I'm seeing your poll results so far...Gas Tax + Tolls? That makes sense considering 44 used to be $0.25, the HRBT used to be $1.25, etc).

Back when I used to drive from Ocean View to Busch Gardens to work (this was before the Boomerang), I was in support of tolls including the HRBT. I still am in support of tolls + gas tax (now I know I'm going to get a VBTA Nasty Gram).