Arlington has a lower real estate tax rate because it generates revenue from other sources. It makes sense to diversify Fairfax County's taxes so our rates are more in line with neighboring counties.

Anonymous wrote:

I support the meals tax because fully 1/3 or more of the taxes from it will be paid by out of county residents. Plain and simple. If I have to pay to fund the rest of Virginia because of unfair state taxes, I want others to fund our county if possible.

BS. This is a pipedream. You are not considering the other parts of the tax--all PREPARED food. This means rotisserie chickens, etc. Pizza. Starbucks. Ice cream. Sodas. Chinese takeout etc.etc. This isn't just working people who go out to lunch that are paying a meals tax. Where do you get the "fully 1/3 or more" will be paid by out of county residents. I think you are confusing this with an earlier proposal that just applied to Tysons.

This will bring the tax up to 10%.

I just read the latest study which includes prepared foods. Fairfax is estimating out of county residents paying 28% of the tax revenue. From other sources I've heard even higher. It's still more than the 0% out of county contribution with the real estate tax.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/mealstax/

I support the meals tax because fully 1/3 or more of the taxes from it will be paid by out of county residents. Plain and simple. If I have to pay to fund the rest of Virginia because of unfair state taxes, I want others to fund our county if possible.

BS. This is a pipedream. You are not considering the other parts of the tax--all PREPARED food. This means rotisserie chickens, etc. Pizza. Starbucks. Ice cream. Sodas. Chinese takeout etc.etc. This isn't just working people who go out to lunch that are paying a meals tax. Where do you get the "fully 1/3 or more" will be paid by out of county residents. I think you are confusing this with an earlier proposal that just applied to Tysons.

This will bring the tax up to 10%.

Anonymous wrote:I support the meals tax because fully 1/3 or more of the taxes from it will be paid by out of county residents. Plain and simple. If I have to pay to fund the rest of Virginia because of unfair state taxes, I want others to fund our county if possible.

Cuz it's all about you and how you feel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All for the meals tax. Let the apartment-living ESL and FARM families contribute something toward the cost to educate their kids when they go to McDonalds.

Less cynically, every other area locally hams am meals tax. What's the rationale for Fairfax not to have one?

There are only two rationales - taxes are always bad and this is a regressive tax.

Otherwise, it's a good idea for an aging suburb, particularly when other jurisdictions already have one.

Ugh, not this tired nonsense again. Your tax dollars are paying for your child's education.

I support the meals tax because fully 1/3 or more of the taxes from it will be paid by out of county residents. Plain and simple. If I have to pay to fund the rest of Virginia because of unfair state taxes, I want others to fund our county if possible.

It's this or the real estate tax. Or having larger class sizes and lower paid teachers

Wrong. They just raised the real estate tax and fully funded FCPS.

And, larger class sizes and higher paid teachers could be achieved if we had decent stewardship on the School Board.

I wonder about the op of this thread and his/her need to create a thread about this meal tax every couple months or so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my ass. You're going to stop eating out because it suddenly costs a teeny bit more? It's always cost more than simply throwing a chicken breast, a potato and some vegetables in the oven.

Don't believe me? Ok. It's not about the "teeny bit" of extra cost. It's about f.u. to the tax & spend democrats. And we don't eat much chicken or potatoes either. We eat mostly vegetarian.

If you really think that MOST consumers are going to stop eating out to say "FU Democrats" you are nuts. You sound like a difficult, bratty person anyway so the people forced to serve you probably won't mind that loss of business. You're almost certainly the type of person who costs them money by complaining to get freebies anyway.

Ha! You're mad, so you're calling me names and making up stuff about me so you can make me into a bad person. Well you couldn't be more wrong! I'm poor, so I don't eat in sit down restaurants very often, but when I do I'm a great customer. I waited tables for about 5 years when I was young. I never ask for anything free. Ever. When I eat out its usually take out from places like Zoe's kitchen or moby dick. I'm sure that any business will mind losing customers, even lowly customers like myself. You know who else will regret it? The employees who lose hours when less people eat out. That's who will hurt most from it, not the evil business owners.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All for the meals tax. Let the apartment-living ESL and FARM families contribute something toward the cost to educate their kids when they go to McDonalds.

Less cynically, every other area locally hams am meals tax. What's the rationale for Fairfax not to have one?

Loudoun doesn't. But even if it did, what sort of argument is "Well, every other county has one."? My teen is trying to convince us to buy her an iPhone using that same line of reasoning. Pretty juvenile.

It means it won't harm businesses, who are complaining that it will.

Yes it will.

Signed,
Np and a consumer

No, it won't. You are a minority in this. There may be a lot of people like you who will whine about it but there are very few who will stop eating out over a couple of dollars - particularly when many of the surrounding jurisdictions already have it in place.

It might mean that diners will tip a little less, hurting the working class wait staff.

Taxes don't create wealth, they just shift it from one column to another.

Right, they don't. Would you prefer the real estate column or the meals column?

I'd prefer the county handle its finances better, keep the real estate tax rate where it is and let the increase in house values do its thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All for the meals tax. Let the apartment-living ESL and FARM families contribute something toward the cost to educate their kids when they go to McDonalds.

Less cynically, every other area locally hams am meals tax. What's the rationale for Fairfax not to have one?

Loudoun doesn't. But even if it did, what sort of argument is "Well, every other county has one."? My teen is trying to convince us to buy her an iPhone using that same line of reasoning. Pretty juvenile.

It means it won't harm businesses, who are complaining that it will.

Yes it will.

Signed,
Np and a consumer

No, it won't. You are a minority in this. There may be a lot of people like you who will whine about it but there are very few who will stop eating out over a couple of dollars - particularly when many of the surrounding jurisdictions already have it in place.

It might mean that diners will tip a little less, hurting the working class wait staff.

Taxes don't create wealth, they just shift it from one column to another.

Right, they don't. Would you prefer the real estate column or the meals column?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All for the meals tax. Let the apartment-living ESL and FARM families contribute something toward the cost to educate their kids when they go to McDonalds.

Less cynically, every other area locally hams am meals tax. What's the rationale for Fairfax not to have one?

Loudoun doesn't. But even if it did, what sort of argument is "Well, every other county has one."? My teen is trying to convince us to buy her an iPhone using that same line of reasoning. Pretty juvenile.

It means it won't harm businesses, who are complaining that it will.

Yes it will.

Signed,
Np and a consumer

No, it won't. You are a minority in this. There may be a lot of people like you who will whine about it but there are very few who will stop eating out over a couple of dollars - particularly when many of the surrounding jurisdictions already have it in place.

It might mean that diners will tip a little less, hurting the working class wait staff.

Taxes don't create wealth, they just shift it from one column to another.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my ass. You're going to stop eating out because it suddenly costs a teeny bit more? It's always cost more than simply throwing a chicken breast, a potato and some vegetables in the oven.

Don't believe me? Ok. It's not about the "teeny bit" of extra cost. It's about f.u. to the tax & spend democrats. And we don't eat much chicken or potatoes either. We eat mostly vegetarian.

If you really think that MOST consumers are going to stop eating out to say "FU Democrats" you are nuts. You sound like a difficult, bratty person anyway so the people forced to serve you probably won't mind that loss of business. You're almost certainly the type of person who costs them money by complaining to get freebies anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my ass. You're going to stop eating out because it suddenly costs a teeny bit more? It's always cost more than simply throwing a chicken breast, a potato and some vegetables in the oven.

Don't believe me? Ok. It's not about the "teeny bit" of extra cost. It's about f.u. to the tax & spend democrats. And we don't eat much chicken or potatoes either. We eat mostly vegetarian.

It's this or the real estate tax. Or having larger class sizes and lower paid teachers. Or move to Arlington, which has a meals tax and a HS crisis.

This is the gist of it. There are hard choices to be made. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All for the meals tax. Let the apartment-living ESL and FARM families contribute something toward the cost to educate their kids when they go to McDonalds.

Less cynically, every other area locally hams am meals tax. What's the rationale for Fairfax not to have one?

Loudoun doesn't. But even if it did, what sort of argument is "Well, every other county has one."? My teen is trying to convince us to buy her an iPhone using that same line of reasoning. Pretty juvenile.

It means it won't harm businesses, who are complaining that it will.

Yes it will.

Signed,
Np and a consumer

No, it won't. You are a minority in this. There may be a lot of people like you who will whine about it but there are very few who will stop eating out over a couple of dollars - particularly when many of the surrounding jurisdictions already have it in place.