<bt>Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote that taxes are the price we pay for civilization. He was right. However, Northern Virginia must be one of the most civilized places on earth. Tax increases have been outpacing families' income growth for years. In fact, Virginia families pay more in taxes than we do for food, shelter and clothing combined.
Most of our hard-earned money goes to pay for noble endeavors such as educating our children, paving roads, police protection and helping those who cannot help themselves. But outrageous property tax increases have taxpayers rightfully questioning where their money is going.
Since 1999, Fairfax County property taxes have increased an average of 53 percent. That means that the average homeowner is paying $1,300 a year more in property taxes than in 1998. Having knocked on thousands of doors in the course of my campaign for the House of Delegates, I have heard time and again how higher taxes are driving people out of our county — especially senior citizens and young families.
Similarly, tax revenues for the state of Virginia have gone up 61 percent since 1995 — more than three times the rate of inflation. Yet we still hear about Virginia's need for more money and the necessity of paring services. I think it's time to change how our government taxes people and spends their hard-earned money.
Too much of our tax system is rooted in the 18th century concept of large plantation owners holding the wealth, thus leading to the taxation of the value of property. We obviously need to rethink Virginia's tax code, and there are some policymakers in Richmond who are doing just that. But whatever changes we make must not put additional burdens on working Virginians. I have not spoken to a single taxpayer who feels undertaxed.
Any new tax or increase in an existing tax must be offset with an equal-sized tax cut. The obvious candidate for cutting is real property taxes. At a minimum, property tax increases should be capped at 5 percent per year, or the rate of inflation plus population growth.
Further, we must instill spending discipline. If we raise a tax for a specific purpose, we should spend that money only for that purpose. For instance, in 1986 the General Assembly raised the sales tax, gas tax, car-titling tax and several other taxes and fees to solve our transportation needs for the next two generations. I know; I was there as Del. Bob Andrews' chief aide.
It should have worked. However, time and again the tax money promised for transportation was spent on other things. In fact, just last year, $319 million was leeched from the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) to pay for other government programs. We must "wall off" the TTF by requiring a "super majority" of the state legislature before money can be borrowed from it. Before squawking about a funding crisis, legislators should ensure that transportation money is spent on transportation, education funds are spent on educating our kids, etc. That's only reasonable and fair.