Growls

When the Arlington County Board voted to advertise an increase of 10.3% in the real estate tax rate on February 20, they also voted to advertise other increases such as increasing “parking ticket and other fines for nonmoving violations be increased by $10 per infraction” (an increase of 40% for a parking meter violation). After all, there has generally been “no increases to parking ticket fines in over a decade.” The Manager’s report to the Board advertising increasing fines by $10 was item 22.L. on the Board’s February 20, 2010 agenda.

The county issued nearly 229,000 tickets, and warnings, in FY 2009, and collected almost $7.4 million. According to the Acting Manager, the $10 would “generate $1,520,000 in additional revenue, which would be offset by $20,000 in so-called non-personnel costs.”

The additional revenue wasn’t included in the FY 2011 proposed budget, but was advertised “to allow the County Board additional flexibility with revenue decisions for the FY 2011 budget.” How thoughtful to provide the Board with additional flexibility? Serving the County Board. of course.

Tell the Board your thoughts on whether to increase not only the above fines, but also the real estate tax rate. Write them at:

    countyboard (at) arlingtonva.us

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 02:18 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

A new Fiscal Fact (Number 214, including the associated press release) was published today by the Tax Foundation, and reports that a record number of people paid no federal income tax in 2008, “more than a third of all tax returns resulted in complete nonpayment; that is, people got back every dollar that was withheld from their paychecks during the year.” In addition, the study reports that “over 50 million “nonpayers” include families making over $50,000.

According to the study, “Nonpaying status used to be a sure sign of poverty or near-poverty, but Congress and the President have changed the tax laws to pull much of the middle class into the growing pool of nonpayers.”

The number of “nonpayers” averaged 21% from 1950 until 1990. Since 1990, however, that percentage has increased. The Tax Foundation writes:

“Since it was enacted in 1913, the income tax code has contained provisions that exempt low-income workers or greatly reduce their income tax burden. These provisions include the standard deduction, personal exemption, dependent exemption, and the earned income tax credit (EITC). Between 1950 and 1990, the percentage of tax filers whose entire tax liability was wiped out by these provisions averaged 21 percent.

“Since the early 1990s, however, lawmakers have increasingly used the tax code instead of government spending programs to funnel money to groups of people they want to reward. Credits have been enacted to subsidize families with children, college students, and purchasers of hybrid cars, just to name a few of the most well known. In terms of tax revenue, the most significant of these socially targeted credits was the $500 per-child tax credit enacted in 1997. The 2001 and 2003 tax bills doubled the value of the credit to $1,000 and added a refundable component.”

Here’s a graph of the growth from the Tax Foundation’s study:

Sure seems the time has come to reform the tax system!

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 07:04 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Or should we say Arlington County? There are still enough to growl about in the department budget reductions in the Manager’s FY 2011 proposed budget so let’s focus on those for the Department of Environmental Services. Again, the proposed reductions sound like things that could easily be accomplished within the authority of the County Manager. For example:

• “Adjust STAR back-office” transit “efficiencies in operations and program management practices to improve the overall cost efficiency of the local transit program.” Management anticipates minimal customer impact.
  

• Implement minor adjustments to route schedules and span of service on ART routes 61, 62, 51 and 53. Management again anticipates minimal customer impact.

Guess you don’t have to be efficient when it’s other peoples’ money you’re spending.

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 05:33 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Norm Leahy has another great post at the Tertium Quids blog today, relating how one bill patroned by Arlington County Senator Mary Margaret Whipple (D) -- Senate Bill 452 -- got blindsided in the General Assembly. Sen Whipple’s SB 452 would have changed how retail sales and hotel taxes “are computed based on total charges or the total price paid for the use or possession of the room.”

Norm cites this Virginian Pilot story to ask whether the bill involved a tax hike based on the following:

“Whipple's legislation was directed at online hotel booking companies such as Orbitz and Expedia.com, which book rooms at discounted rates and resell them on the Web. They now pay retail sales and hotel occupancy taxes only on the discounted price they pay the hotel - not on what they charge the customer.

“That's not fair, Whipple reasoned: A customer who books a room directly with the hotel pays tax on the full retail rate. So the Arlington County Democrat introduced a bill, SB452, requiring that the tax be computed on the full price of the room. The measure would also mandate that the tax be clearly delineated on the customer's invoice.

“The bill was approved by the Senate, 40-0, and a House of Delegates subcommittee, 10-0, advancing it to the full House Finance Committee.”

And here’s where the blindsiding comes into play. Responding to one lobbyist who claimed a similar measure has levied such a tax, Sen. Whipple said:

“It is not a new tax," Whipple countered. "The question is, what amount is it levied on? It's not complicated. It's a tax on the retail value of the room. Virginia is losing tons and tons of money because of this loophole."

Norm notes the action of the lobbyists has some folks upset, specifically Arlington County Treasurer Frank O’Leary. Here’s how the Virginian Pilot describes it:

“Arlington Treasurer Francis O'Leary, who suggested the bill to Whipple, said the committee's action will cost Virginia and its localities some $33 million in lost taxes this year - $5 million in Virginia Beach alone - at a time when the state is scrambling to plug a $4 billion-plus hole in the budget and cutting hundreds of millions from public education and health care.

“This stinks," O'Leary said. "These people are stealing our money, and then when we try to get it back, they hire high-priced lobbyists to fight us."

Guess Mr. O'Leary wasn’t at the hearing discussed in yesterday’s Growls when the government officials and their lobbyist marched to the General Assembly to lobby against taxpayers’ interest. Of course, when Arlington taxpayers travel elsewhere, local government officials in those localities happily tell those taxpayers the  taxes collected from Arlington County travelers will reduce their taxes.

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 04:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Sal Iaquinto (R-Virginia Beach) patroned HB 570 in the 2010 Virginia General Assembly, which “would shift the burden of proof from the taxpayer to the assessor when a taxpayer appeals the assessment of real property or to a circuit court, and would remove the presumption that the assessor’s valuation of real property is correct.”

The bill passed the House of Delegates 86-13 on February 4, but was defeated in the Senate on a party line vote, according to Norm Leahy blogging at Tertium Quids.

Norm also provides a video that shows several local government officials, including an official from the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo) for which Arlington County taxpayers pay about $36,000 annually, “lobbying against the interests of taxpayers, or in this case, taxpaying property owners.” The bill has “fiscal implications,” which are spelled out in the Department of Taxation’s 2010 Fiscal Impact Statement:

“This bill would have no impact on state revenues. To the extent that shifting the burden of proof to the locality results in more appeals, this bill may increase the costs to localities of defending local tax appeals. To the extent that shifting the burden of proof to the locality results in more successful appeals, this bill may result in a decrease in local tax revenues.”

Although the shifting of the burden of proof may increase the cost of defending appeals, it’s seems the higher responsibility of the local government should be to correctly assess a taxpayer’s property. Consequently, it was disconcerting to watch local government officials lobbying against the interests of taxpayers.

While visiting the Tertium Quids blog, you can join the Tuesday Morning Group and/or signing up for the TQ Email Updates. And for anyone who believes the claim of the VACo lobbyist that the assessment process is "user-friendly," please contact ACTA.

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 07:19 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The National Taxpayers Union has released its 2009 ratings (requires Adobe) for the First Session of the 111th U.S. Congress. The voting study is based on every roll call vote (333 in the House and 227 in the Senate) that affects fiscal policy, i.e., “every vote that significantly affects taxes, spending, debt, and regulatory burdens on consumers and taxpayers.”

Both Virginia Senators Mark Warner (D, score of 11%) and Jim Webb (D, 13%) received an F grade. Scores less than 16% received an F, which NTU describes as Big Spender. The average score for Democrats in the Senate was 9% and the median score was 6%.

Arlington County’s other member of Congress, Rep. Jim Moran (D). also received an F with a score of 2%. In fact, Moran scored lower than Virginia Representatives Gerald Connolly (D) with 6% and Bobby Scott (D) with 4%. The Democratic average in the House was 8% and the Democratic median was 4%.

Communicate with your Congressional representatives:

• Senator Jim Webb (D) -- write to him or call (202) 224-4024

• Senator Mark Warner (D) -  write to him or call (202) 224-2023

• Representative Jim Moran (D) -- write to him or call (202) 225-4376

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 03:22 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

When we growled on Wednesday of this week about the budget reductions being recommended by the Acting Arlington County Manager, we said that many of the individual reductions made you wonder why they weren’t made years ago, or at least aren’t implemented immediately. How about these two examples:

• The Manager’s Office would eliminate one of the six issues each year of The Citizen. That plus reducing the number of brochures and flyers printed would save an estimated $27,180. Why not just  eliminate the cost of printing and postage, and send The Citizen electronically? For those few people who affirm they don’t have e-mail available, paper copies could be continued for a few more years. So instead of saving $27,180, Arlington’s taxpayers could save over $100,000 annually.

• The Acting Manager proposes some “transit service adjustments,” -- described as “minor” and the impact as "minimal" -- to the “route schedules and span of service on ART routes 61, 62, 51 and 53.” These “minor” adjustments would save an estimated $54,000 annually. Why wait to implement them until FY 2011? Why not implement them immediately?

When it’s taxpayers money they’re dealing with, it must be difficult for the county worthies to act quickly.

For the complete list of proposed FY 2011 budget reductions, see the County Manager’s Message in the FY 2011 proposed budget.

Posted by ElGrowlerGrande at 07:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)