Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the lottery money was supposed to be for schools. what happened to that?

don't forget everyone's favorite-the car tax.

Still not enough?

Move pension funding to 401k like the rest of us. It will open up the budget and everyone can still get some form of retirement like the rest of us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the lottery money was supposed to be for schools. what happened to that?

don't forget everyone's favorite-the car tax.

Still not enough?

Move pension funding to 401k like the rest of us. It will open up the budget and everyone can still get some form of retirement like the rest of us.

The current retirement program (for the last 14 years) is very similar to a 401(k). Teachers contribute and there is a matching percentage from the state.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the lottery money was supposed to be for schools. what happened to that?

don't forget everyone's favorite-the car tax.

Still not enough?

Move pension funding to 401k like the rest of us. It will open up the budget and everyone can still get some form of retirement like the rest of us.

The current retirement program (for the last 14 years) is very similar to a 401(k). Teachers contribute and there is a matching percentage from the state.

https://www.erfcpension.org/

Anonymous wrote:Ppl asking for more taxes won’t understand those who don’t have anymore to give. This is sad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the lottery money was supposed to be for schools. what happened to that?

don't forget everyone's favorite-the car tax.

Still not enough?

Anonymous wrote:
Long word salads in some threads. Simplify - no meal tax, flat real estate tax. How does taxes increase more than my pay increase which is not annual anymore? Voting for no meal tax or any new taxes period.

jvmorgan wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Long word salads in some threads. Simplify - no meal tax, flat real estate tax. How does taxes increase more than my pay increase which is not annual anymore? Voting for no meal tax or any new taxes period.

Meals tax = cheap tax revenues (30% discount)

Real estate tax = expensive tax revenues (0% discount)

Meals tax plus real estate tax better than real estate tax alone.

Anonymous wrote:
“Meals tax = cheap tax revenues (30% discount)

Real estate tax = expensive tax revenues (0% discount)

Meals tax plus real estate tax better than real estate tax alone.”

Not sure if the my note wasn’t clear. No new or tax increase is the message. Work with what is there and manage priorities. Can’t keep throwing money at challenges.

Anonymous wrote:

jvmorgan wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
“A meals tax would save Fairfax County residents money compared with raising the same revenues through real estate taxes, thanks largely to the fact that 30% of meals tax revenues would be expected to come from visitors to Fairfax County.”

LOL, give it up.

As an engaged citizen of Fairfax County who wants to see its government adopt smart policies, I am happy to engage in public discussion on matters such as a meals tax where I have something useful to contribute. I am sure that opponents of a meals tax, who really don’t have a good argument against raising revenues in a manner that costs Fairfax County residents less than it would cost them to raise the same revenues through real estate taxes, would be happy for me to shut up with all the facts and logic. But I don’t want to disengage simply because some people, perhaps driven by ideology rather than by any sort of objective analysis, don’t want to hear why a meals tax in Fairfax County makes a lot sense. I am proud to show my support for improving our local government tax base through diversification of revenues which would increase the expected growth in the tax base (food away from home expenditures in Northern Virginia grow about a percentage point higher than real estate assessments), would increase the expected stability of tax revenues (growth in food away from home expenditures in Northern Virginia are poorly correlated with growth in real estate assessments), and that would cost Fairfax County residents less (about 50% for lower-income households and about 25% for higher-income households) than real estate taxes in order to raise equivalent revenues.

I, for one, appreciate your informative input in this thread and I agree with you about diversifying the county's revenue streams through a meal tax.

A lot of the comments in this thread are reflexively rejecting this proposal that would actually save them money in the long run because of concerns about cutting bloat in the school system. There is no reason these two methods should be mutually exclusive. In fact, there are almost certainly lots of areas in which FCPS could save money, starting with administrative bloat at Gatehouse, and a comprehensive 360 audit would help identify areas that are ripe for cuts and this is independent of a meals tax.

As the commercial property tax money dries up, the county is also going to have to take a hard look at its residential real estate tax policy. The population as a whole is aging rapidly, and the exemptions given to low-income seniors who might expect to retire at 62 and survive on SS and little else for 25+ years while having their RE tax subsidized just so they can "age in place" living alone in a 3 or 4-br house may not be sustainable. Incentivizing people to free up that space would also open up starter housing for young families, given the housing shortage. There is no sense in talking about zoning reform or middle income housing if the rates keep going up and the people who actually have to pay the taxes can't afford them.

Anonymous wrote:Would all meal tax money go toward schools or toward a general fund? Would the money be shared with other parts of the state or remain local? If it remains local, would education funds from the state be lowered?

Anonymous wrote:
How do Airbnb and the like affect taxes and creek g up homes for younger families?

jvmorgan wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You can't think of any good reasons why someone would vote against a tax? Perhaps you should think harder.

I can think of hypothetical scenarios in which I would not support diversifying the Fairfax County tax revenue base. For example, if Alexandria, Arlington, City of Fairfax, Falls Church, Herndon, Leesburg, Manassas, Manassas Park, Prince William County, and Town of Vienna started to rethink, maybe even repeal their meals taxes, then I would question the wisdom of adopting a meals tax. Also, if I had seen poor growth rates in meals away from home expenditures when looking at jurisdictions in Northern Virginia, I’d be more worried about possible harmful industry effects from a meals tax. But I haven’t seen any neighboring jurisdictions consider rolling back their meals taxes. I’m not even aware of any lobbying efforts to change our neighbors’ meals tax status quos. And the growth rate in meals away from home expenditures turns out to be about a percentage higher than the growth rate in real estate assessments, despite the theoretical consequences of a meals tax. So no, I haven’t seen good evidence, a good reason, for opposing a Fairfax County meals tax.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought the lottery money was supposed to be for schools. what happened to that?

don't forget everyone's favorite-the car tax.

Still not enough?

Move pension funding to 401k like the rest of us. It will open up the budget and everyone can still get some form of retirement like the rest of us.

The current retirement program (for the last 14 years) is very similar to a 401(k). Teachers contribute and there is a matching percentage from the state.

https://www.erfcpension.org/

Seems like there is a pension and one can contribute to a 401k like program in addition. A lot of tax payers money goes to pensions.

jvmorgan wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ppl asking for more taxes won’t understand those who don’t have anymore to give. This is sad.

I cannot speak for everyone who supports adopting a meals tax in Fairfax County, but I can say I don’t understand how those who plead they cannot afford more meals taxes would be opposed to a tax where the citizens of Fairfax County raise $1 for every 70¢ they spend. To me, that seems like a really good deal.

The attacks I see against adopting a meals tax tend to be based on speculation of what the Board of Supervisors would do if they adopted a meals tax. I hear claims that the Board of Supervisors won’t lower real estate taxes or will just raise them. But these seem irrelevant to me. The Board of Supervisors has the authority to leave the real estate tax rate untouched, raise the real estate tax, or lower the real estate tax rate regardless whether they have adopted a meals tax. And it’s not like they don’t have any political incentives to try lowering the real estate tax rate as much as possible. Paying less in taxes is generally rather popular among tax payers. But when the main source of revenue comes from real estate taxes with little diversification, it is difficult to make the popular move of lowering or at least maintaining real estate tax rates, especially if those revenues are not growing quickly enough to maintain essential or popular county government services. Diversifying those tax revenues—especially with a tax that provides a built in 30% discount to Fairfax County residents—would give the Board of Supervisors more flexibility in decision-making related to real estate taxes. It just strikes me as a no brainer and I have a hard time understanding why a portion of Fairfax County residents are so dead set against this tax diversification option. It’s really not a matter of not being willing to understand opposition as a matter, given the arguments that have been made against a meals tax, of being capable of understanding the basis for opposition.