|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (2)
Group says tax unfairly targets hurting restaurants
A group of local elected leaders and business owners is calling on voters to reject a referendum Nov. 4 that would allow Loudoun to tax customers of a struggling restaurant industry.“This is simply the wrong tax at the wrong time, targeting the wrong industry in Loudoun – our small businesses that are restaurants, many of whom are teetering on the edge or have already shut their doors,” Loudoun Coalition Against the Food Tax co-founder Nicholas Graham, of Ashburn, said in a statement Oct. 14.
Fellow coalition co-founder and former state Senate candidate Patricia Phillips said a meals tax would impact families too "pressed for time" to cook at home.
"Our message to voters is clear -- Loudoun, stick a fork in this unwise, untimely and unfair tax increase," she said.
This summer, in order to find additional money to build more schools and pay down school debt, the Board of Supervisors voted to put a question on the Nov. 4 ballot asking if Loudoun should be allowed to tax by up to 4 percent food and beverages sold at restaurants and prepared foods sold at convenience stores.
"We have to find another way to pay for schools," explained Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge), who said a meals tax would help in preventing a significant hike in the county's real estate tax rate, which now stands at $1.14 per every $100 of a home's assessed value. Facing a large budget shortfall next year, supervisors may be forced to raise the rate in 2009.
Coalition member and former state Senate candidate Mark Tate co-owns the Coach Stop restaurant in Middleburg, a town that already has a meals tax. At his restaurant, he said customers are still plentiful in this gloomy economy but they are spending less. A meals tax, he said, may prolong this trend.
"Restaurants will rebound," he said, "but approving this tax will make it tougher to rebound. ... It is unfair to put this tax on these restaurants' customers."
But according to Supervisor Sally Kurtz (D-Catoctin), who chairs the joint School Board and Board of Supervisors Committee, a meals tax is needed to diversify Loudoun's revenue sources in a time when money from property taxes continues to decline.
Her message to meals tax opponents: "This is an optional tax," she said. "If you don't like it, cook at home."
Other members of the coalition include Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling), Loudoun Commissioner of the Revenue Robert Wertz Jr., Leesburg Town Council member Kenneth Reid and an assortment of local restaurateurs.
To learn more, visit noloudounfoodtax.blogspot.com.
Contact the reporter at jjacks@timespapers.com
I can't believe people are unwilling to support this! If the large national chains located in the county can't administer this tax, how is it that many small business within the town limits have been able to do so? This is an example of the irrational knee jerk "anti-tax" nonsense that contributed to this shortfall. Can you imagine how much revenue the fast food places at Dulles airport will generate? Sometimes I wonder-- all the Republicans listed as members were all for growth-- they didn't listen when told the cost to educate a child was more than the total property tax paid on an average home in Loudoun. Now they want to pretend they are looking out for us by denying a viable and OPTIONAL tax which would defray costs. Put all Loudoun restaurants on a level playing field-- tax food and beverage.
Posted by 4truth
Report Offensive Content
Loudoun Homeowners: If you vote no, you'll be the ones to blame when our real estate taxes increase next year! Hope you've got some extra cash to spare for the Loudoun County Gov., because they are going to want more, lot's more. I'd rather pay a couple extra cents while dining, vs. being the only ones feeling the burden come tax time.
Posted by lburgva76
Report Offensive Content
You must be logged in to post a comment.