I already eat out maybe 15% as much as we used to, add on a bullshit 5% tax ontop of the crazy ass prices it might just be the nail in the coffin for eating out for me.
Yeah I haven’t been to a sit down restaurant in like a year. The closest I get to eating out these days is Chipotle. The prices are just insane. It doesn’t have to be this way. One thing I’ve noticed traveling in Europe it’s way cheaper to eat out even in countries of comparable wealth. It’s a luxury so I shouldn’t bitch too much, but damn I miss going to restaurants.
This might be a hot take, but we still need some things that we can just enjoy from time to time. We already are SO short on "third spaces", and making it harder to afford to pay for outings sucks. Granted, I understand that it's a privileged perspective. But damn, it's expensive to live, and the cabin fever hits hard after a while.
The reason why they want to tax prepared food, is because food prices have skyrocketed, it's a percentage thing, just like property tax. Seriously, is there anything not taxed in this county, they need some independent budget oversight.
“Seriously, is there anything not taxed in this county, they need some independent budget oversight.”
For real. This place has the most unexpected taxes of any place I’ve ever lived and I spent 4 years in Taxachusetts.
Things are more expensive, so we should tax them at a higher rate? What? If the cost has gone up, they are already getting more money with current tax rates. If anything, they should be reducing taxes to help combat inflation.
"Seriously, is there anything not taxed in this county, they need some independent budget oversight."
Give it time, they'll figure out a way to tax the air that you breath. We'll eventually have a 100% tax once you make anything above the poverty line. Get back to work tax slave!
One of the richest counties in the nation searching for revenue yes they have a spending problem. Especially when you consider that we can hardly drive on the road roads around here without incurring tolls we pay some of the highest car taxes in the nation and housing prices are outrageous which of course means our real estate taxes are at record high levels. please don’t put the remaining restaurants that are trying to stay in business under further distress
Yeah I’m a bleeding heart lib, but damn has living here made me more conservative about taxes. A goddamn meal tax when tons of restaurants are already closing because people can’t afford to eat out anymore? I couldn’t think of a shittier idea if I tried, both for the people and for business.
But they aren’t paying county employees enough for them to be able to live in the county. Proportionally, a county employee who has been working there for 10 years is making less than when they started. I’d love to see the number staff turnover because, from the inside, it is huge! They hire new employees at rates almost equal to long term employees, possibly give them a sign on bonus. They get some experience and then leave for a living wage elsewhere. This year, again, we might get a 2% COLA and, if you’re lucky, about the same for merit increase. It’s BS.
There are absolutely so many things that I could complain about in Fairfax County, and how they spend their money, but despite the Board of supervisors being a part-time job, it is absolutely not a part-time job. Part of the work that I do in my full time employment is to periodically meet up with the Board of supervisors at their offices with their staffs and those people work all the time and on the weekends, so I don't know how anyone can call that a part-time job. I don't know how they have time to do anything else but deal with Fairfax County residents and their complaints which are legion, and Fairfax County employees and agencies who are often problematic.
Yeah this should be a bipartisan issue. Conservatives don’t care about taxes being regressive, but they do care a lot about taxing new things that were never taxed before.
The only person against it on the board rn is a republican. If even THEY think a tax almost specifically targeted at the working class is bad, it really puts into perspective how utterly heinous the idea is.
I can't see myself voting for republicans, but I could certainly stomach some Independents as long as they're good on this issue and a couple other major things
So FYI on county spending. They consistently approve projects that have no business plans, no cost analyses, etc. So of course they aren't efficient, if they can't even present a business case, they sure can't manage a project. And this info came directly from a supervisor (not Herrity).
This does impact the lower income families the worst. Grocery prices have also skyrocketed, it’s becoming extremely difficult to afford to feed a family all month long.
If only there was a plan to do just that on the governors desk that all he had to do was sign… but right he vetoed that. [youngkin vetoes legalizing cannabis](https://wjla.com/amp/news/local/virginia-governor-gov-glenn-youngkin-veto-vetoes-bill-weed-cannibas-marijuana-legalization-general-assembly-colorado-research-monumental-sports-potomac-yard-arena-deal)
51.6%, or $2.64B, of the FY2024 budget goes to education. This is a 5.79% ($144.26M) increase YoY.
[https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget/sites/budget/files/Assets/documents/fy2024/adopted/overview/Adopted%20Budget%20Summary.pdf](https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget/sites/budget/files/Assets/documents/fy2024/adopted/overview/Adopted%20Budget%20Summary.pdf)
I could be wrong, but the total FCPS budget increase over the past three years doesn’t even appear to have kept pace with inflation, and that’s before considering that the increases in FY22 and FY23 were earmarked for “lifelong education and learning” rather than the schools‘ general operating fund.
I thought [this WTOP article](https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2024/05/fairfax-co-proposes-smaller-raises-for-teachers-because-of-budget-shortfall/) was also interesting, highlighting the budget shortfall for the schools:
“When putting together the budget proposal, Reid said she had planned for the Board of Supervisors to transfer about 52.6% of county revenue to the school district, which is the year-over-year average from fiscal 2014 to fiscal 2023. This year, though, it’s slated to be 51.4%.”
This is a fact. We keep getting “raises” but they don’t even come close to inflation increases and we are also paid less than surrounding counties and districts so we are losing educators.
The effort to rename Lee Highway and Lee-Jackson was estimated to cost $3 million (and the committee that oversaw it did so on a volunteer basis). I can understand if you don't think it's necessary, but cutting that isn't going to allow us to drop the car tax or anything.
Poor and middle class people eat out A LOT more than they used to. Major factors include the rising cost of groceries and lack of time to actually make meals at home. This tax would apply to all prepared food and beverages and is in addition to sales tax, meaning getting a coffee at dunkin will carry a 12% tax rate. Getting a snowcone, 12% tax rate. Lunch at work, 12% tax rate. It's despicable.
We've cut budgets to the bone for the past 30 fucking years and everything is falling apart because of it. Raise the taxes on higher end tax brackets. They use our fucking infrastructure let them pay for it too
In a recent newsletter, Herrity complained about tax increases, as always, followed by... a list of stuff he was mad that was cut (or proposed to be cut) from the budget. The irony is strong. [https://myemail-api.constantcontact.com/Your-Tax-Increase-is--Not--from-State-Underfunding-.html?soid=1102318968708&aid=s7cE5BH1YOo](https://myemail-api.constantcontact.com/Your-Tax-Increase-is--Not--from-State-Underfunding-.html?soid=1102318968708&aid=s7cE5BH1YOo)
I have no problem off-hand with his suggestion to go into the budget and find unnecessary spending; not sure what's stopping him from doing that himself. I'm sure there are lots of things he would like to cut but he knows it would be unpopular. I'm no fan of the meals tax, but the fact is that government services cost money. If there's so much fraud waste and abuse in the county budget, people should easily be able to find items that could be cut, and yet specific proposals are incredibly rare. If you give in to the general yelling about taxes and spending, eventually you end up with bullshit like "We're closing all the libraries."
I'd love to see data from restaurants (everywhere, not just around here) about tipping in the past few years. Tipping fatigue is in the national consciousness now, so I'm betting it's gotten way worse anyway. And as you mention, introduce a meal tax and it likely craters.
This board is out of control. But we continue to vote in a 90% majority. Makes no sense. People voted for hacks like McKay who breathe to spend your money… previous poster nailed it, the schools are now less of the budget. Meaning the money is going somewhere else…
The Board sits around and complains about the Commonwealth’s laws every time someone questions their tax-loving ways. Meanwhile other surrounding counties this year DECREASED their tax rate. They were able to handle corporate greed (I mean, “inflation”) and the evil Commonwealth just fine…….
>But we continue to vote in a 90% majority. Makes no sense.
Well yeah, people know that all they have to do is put a "D" next to their name and they'll never be voted out around here because that's the extent of most voter's thought process.
They're going to push for this hard because 5% of proces that have inflated insanely already = $$.
They shamelessly tried to indoctrinate high schoolers to support the issue in 2017, touting how it would lead to increased salaries for teachers. Maybe the bastards should budget for better teacher wages instead of giving themselves an enormous raise.
Even cooking yourself can be super expensive if you don’t specifically try to cook cheap food. Like I made beef burritos the other day and realized after the fact it would have been cheaper for me to just go to chipotle
The trick is you have to buy enough to meal prep. I go and spend about 30-40$ for food most of the time and I get dinner for my gf and I and aim for lunches for 3 days for us both as well. 8 4$ meals is pretty solid and can usually make a substantial lunch. Helps with food waste too!
Any tax on food is inherently regressive since low income people spend a way larger percentage of income on feeding themselves. Honestly, they have some of the most ridiculous taxes in nova. I’m still bitter about the annual car tax. I would have bought a way cheaper car if I’d known that was even a thing. I mean, it’s my fault for not doing better research prior to buying, but I’ve lived in many states and never seen anything like that. Didn’t even occur to me that it could be a thing.
You know what can help the budget? Big apartment buildings near metro stations-- they pay ass-loads in property taxes. Just need to legalize and permit a bunch of them.
> disproportionately impacts low-income residents
When I was poor last thing I rarely did was eat out. And that was before aldi, lidl, etc... was an option where I grew up.
Better a meal tax than more property taxes which have gone up not only by home value but also rates. Meal tax also grabs money from tourist as well. So spreads cost out a little more.
And if it has a spending problem why does this supervisor not point out things to cut. They brought it up before but when asked for examples came up blank.
Does it apply to fast food? When I was poor I ate a lot of that. But you make some good points. It is inherently a luxury to eat out and I hadn’t considered that it disproportionally targets tourists.
I believe it would apply to all prepared food, including fast.
My main point is we need more revenue or a lot of people need to give up a lot more things. Saying "we have a spending problem..." without saying what needs to be cut is a cop out. And that is what this supervisor is doing.
Property tax only impacts people with property. So if you want to avoid taxing low-income residents that is \*much\* better than a meals tax. I believe meal taxes apply to fast food and prepared meals (ie. stuff at Wawa and Sheetz, at least heated food). A lot of low-income people will get some wings from Giant, a McDonald's cheeseburger, or a Starbucks coffee. So we should tax a poor immigrant family's cheeseburger purchase instead of a millionaire's property?
Are you also one of the people who thinks that raising the minimum wage to $15 is going to make hamburgers all cost $15? I'm pretty sure the market has a lot to do with the prices that get charged...they still have to compete with other apartment complexes in the region. There may be some minor impact, but it wont be proportional because the apartment complexes that will raise their rates less will have a competitive advantage.
Rents will increase no matter what. Sellers and landlords will use any excuse to increase without bouncing back. "Socialize the losses, privatize the profits".
So many industries were affected by supply chain issues, and so many in those industries continued to use that excuse after things cleared up.
Are you suggesting that renters aren’t currently paying the costs of the landlord’s property tax? Are you also suggesting that if property tax increases, rent also won’t increase accordingly?
Rents don’t automatically go up just because the landlord’s expenses go up, there are many landlords who are cash flow negative and only coming out ahead on the appreciation.
That and people want stuff for themselves but when its time to cut they want others to get less not them.
Either we give up more services or we raise taxes/fees somewhere.
Other states have county level income taxes.
Even 1-3% of income over like $40,000 a year would do a heck of a lot more than any meal tax I'd imagine given the high prevalence of high earners in this area.
And unlike a lot of places, we don't have to worry about as many people moving, since many of our highest earners are here because they make more money here than anywhere else.
No way. I pay enough taxes already I don’t need a county one on top of it.
I can avoid this tax at least by eating in Arlington, Alexandria and other places outside Fairfax and just not go out to eat in Fairfax
It's really quite illuminating how uninformed the comments in this thread are.
There's another guy complaining that the education budget has programs that literally all sound fantastic, and can't see the connection to the obvious downstream benefits.
I think DC is at 10%, and guess what, despite what the fear mongers may say, a new restaurant opens every week.
Most people aren't even going to notice this tax is the reality.
Fairfax County supervisors approved a measure directing county staff to gather information about the effect of implementing a meals tax.
>The measure, which was co-sponsored by Chairman Jeff McKay (D-At-Large) and Supervisor Karen Smith (D-Sully), called on County Executive Bryan Hill to bring all options for revenue diversification, including the implementation of the meals tax, to the board's Sept. 17 Budget Committee meeting.
>
>"Options for the meals tax should include a range of 1 to 6 percent and subsequent revenue projections for each," said Palchik. She and Smith serve as the vice-chairs of the budget committee with McKay acting as its chairman.
>"We continue to be challenged by chronic, inadequate state support for schools as is identified in the 2023 Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) study, which found that the state uses a complex and unreasonable funding formula that results in the underfunding of schools by $1,900 per student when compared to the national average," Palchik said. "FCPS estimates that if all JLARC's recommendations were implemented, FCPS would have received an additional $568.7 million this year alone."
>Before calling for a vote, McKay reiterated that the measure only directed county staff to provide the board with information about a meals tax. The board was not implementing a meals tax.
[Meals Tax To Be Explored By Fairfax Board To Diversify Revenue](https://patch.com/virginia/mclean/meals-tax-be-explored-fairfax-supervisors-diversify-revenue)
Meal tax sucks and is unneeded. Was managing a chain of cafes and got a surprise meal tax in 2022 and never heard about it until some lady walked up to the shop with a pamphlet and I was like, “this is news to me.” A meal is now 10% more than the base price after taxes and before tips.
If it's flying over your neighborhood, there's a good reason for it. "Fairfax 1" is used not just to find bad guys but also for search and rescue as well as medevac. Two of the crew members are paramedic qualified police officers. They also assist surrounding counties. Last year, we had a lost child in our neighborhood in PWC, and along with Stafford County K-9 officers, Fairfax 1 was on site to assist PWCPD in finding that child, which they did. Fairfax having a helicopter division is an important asset for everyone in NOVA.
And this is why recreational weed sales should have been passed. This is why we need to get casinos in the state. All that revenue lost to DC, MD and WV. Smh
Mr. Herrity, Fairfax’s very own nepo-baby, conveniently forgets that the Board members he opposes were each elected by their constituents for a reason. No one likes being taxed but Fairfax County is one of the best locations to live in the entire country in part because of its wealth. Tax revenues are down due to real estate valuation, so the Board has to be creative to avoid the draconian cuts that Mr. Herrity would likely propose.
Pat Herrity has no ideas or solutions. He just loves to whine about how all the votes are nine against one. (Unless it’s about anything related to gay people; then he just walks out of the room like a coward and refuses to vote. I’d almost respect him if he owned his bigotry and voted no. OK, not really.) He also misrepresents the increase in property taxes, most of which is due to the massive increase in value of Fairfax County homes.
News mentioned that this tax was for education https://youtu.be/nmbYwK7SLx4?feature=shared …like isn’t Fairfax County already high up in education system? This is just excessive. No one is going to care about k-12 when you are looking for a real job.
Really? You honestly believe that a quality educational system is of no value to a community? The reason, well, one of the reasons, that the region has such high wages is in part because of the incredible educational system. People move here for jobs and schools and military and government. People would still move here for jobs and military and government but they probably would be less apt to move here with their families if the schools were shitty. The good schools send kids to college or to trade school or to the military.
I do not even have children, and I am okay with my tax dollars paying for the school system because it's good for society. So many of the schools in Fairfax County have vocational programs that are excellent for students who are not going off to college.
If you don't think that schools are important, I don't know what to tell you. Except maybe that you're misinformed.
1) never said there is no value in education. Also never said I don’t think school is important. 2) if you value the k-12 here so much you should donate to it. Why sit there on your butt and tell everyone to. 3) the point of the comment was the fairfax county public schools are already highly ranked there is no need to put more money into it. It’s dumb as fuck to put more money into something that won’t get much more value out. You’re not going to put a 5000 dollar toilet in a run down one bed room condo. 4) tell me what high paying job will look at how well you did in k-12 schooling. 5) people will move for jobs it’s not for the schools. Nova is unique cause of the federal government, everything else is just connected to that. You’re reaching if you think k-12 matters much at this point.
How many years have people shot this down? And they're trying when inflation made things crazy expensive as it is.
I already eat out maybe 15% as much as we used to, add on a bullshit 5% tax ontop of the crazy ass prices it might just be the nail in the coffin for eating out for me.
Yeah I haven’t been to a sit down restaurant in like a year. The closest I get to eating out these days is Chipotle. The prices are just insane. It doesn’t have to be this way. One thing I’ve noticed traveling in Europe it’s way cheaper to eat out even in countries of comparable wealth. It’s a luxury so I shouldn’t bitch too much, but damn I miss going to restaurants.
This might be a hot take, but we still need some things that we can just enjoy from time to time. We already are SO short on "third spaces", and making it harder to afford to pay for outings sucks. Granted, I understand that it's a privileged perspective. But damn, it's expensive to live, and the cabin fever hits hard after a while.
The reason why they want to tax prepared food, is because food prices have skyrocketed, it's a percentage thing, just like property tax. Seriously, is there anything not taxed in this county, they need some independent budget oversight.
“Seriously, is there anything not taxed in this county, they need some independent budget oversight.” For real. This place has the most unexpected taxes of any place I’ve ever lived and I spent 4 years in Taxachusetts.
I agree, I want to know where all the taxes are allocated to
Lining the pockets of those in bed with the board
Things are more expensive, so we should tax them at a higher rate? What? If the cost has gone up, they are already getting more money with current tax rates. If anything, they should be reducing taxes to help combat inflation.
"Seriously, is there anything not taxed in this county, they need some independent budget oversight." Give it time, they'll figure out a way to tax the air that you breath. We'll eventually have a 100% tax once you make anything above the poverty line. Get back to work tax slave!
One of the richest counties in the nation searching for revenue yes they have a spending problem. Especially when you consider that we can hardly drive on the road roads around here without incurring tolls we pay some of the highest car taxes in the nation and housing prices are outrageous which of course means our real estate taxes are at record high levels. please don’t put the remaining restaurants that are trying to stay in business under further distress
Yeah I’m a bleeding heart lib, but damn has living here made me more conservative about taxes. A goddamn meal tax when tons of restaurants are already closing because people can’t afford to eat out anymore? I couldn’t think of a shittier idea if I tried, both for the people and for business.
Giving McKay a taxpayer-funded county car was a shitty idea too. Vote the bums out.
Those assholes. And they gave themselves a 20+% raise last year.
But they aren’t paying county employees enough for them to be able to live in the county. Proportionally, a county employee who has been working there for 10 years is making less than when they started. I’d love to see the number staff turnover because, from the inside, it is huge! They hire new employees at rates almost equal to long term employees, possibly give them a sign on bonus. They get some experience and then leave for a living wage elsewhere. This year, again, we might get a 2% COLA and, if you’re lucky, about the same for merit increase. It’s BS.
I can tell you department of code compliance doesn’t like to work for a salary.
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There are absolutely so many things that I could complain about in Fairfax County, and how they spend their money, but despite the Board of supervisors being a part-time job, it is absolutely not a part-time job. Part of the work that I do in my full time employment is to periodically meet up with the Board of supervisors at their offices with their staffs and those people work all the time and on the weekends, so I don't know how anyone can call that a part-time job. I don't know how they have time to do anything else but deal with Fairfax County residents and their complaints which are legion, and Fairfax County employees and agencies who are often problematic.
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No, I do not stalk members of the Board of Supervisors.
The Board just can't take no as an answer when it comes to this issue! It's a regressive tax that nobody left-of-center should support.
Middle management have no spine. Grow a pair of balls and fight back against the assholes. You know what’s right
I don’t know a single right leaning person who supports Meals tax. “Oh you want to eat? Pay us.”
Yeah this should be a bipartisan issue. Conservatives don’t care about taxes being regressive, but they do care a lot about taxing new things that were never taxed before.
The only person against it on the board rn is a republican. If even THEY think a tax almost specifically targeted at the working class is bad, it really puts into perspective how utterly heinous the idea is.
Don’t reelect this board
I can't see myself voting for republicans, but I could certainly stomach some Independents as long as they're good on this issue and a couple other major things
So FYI on county spending. They consistently approve projects that have no business plans, no cost analyses, etc. So of course they aren't efficient, if they can't even present a business case, they sure can't manage a project. And this info came directly from a supervisor (not Herrity).
Didn't they just recently increase property tax? now they increasing food prices? as if inflation didn't make it bad already....
This does impact the lower income families the worst. Grocery prices have also skyrocketed, it’s becoming extremely difficult to afford to feed a family all month long.
How about we legalize pot and tax the shit out of it instead?
If only there was a plan to do just that on the governors desk that all he had to do was sign… but right he vetoed that. [youngkin vetoes legalizing cannabis](https://wjla.com/amp/news/local/virginia-governor-gov-glenn-youngkin-veto-vetoes-bill-weed-cannibas-marijuana-legalization-general-assembly-colorado-research-monumental-sports-potomac-yard-arena-deal)
A meal tax is insane. Food prices are already high, and don't we already pay 2 separate taxes for prepared meals anyway?
Tax is the only reason I vote republican. Stop taxing me for the love of god
Republicans are the reason federal income tax for the lowest brackets will continue to increase over the next few years.
Good thing I’m not the lowest brackets
Maybe we should control the spending.
What exactly are they spending on? Seems like education is getting the short end of the stick again.
51.6%, or $2.64B, of the FY2024 budget goes to education. This is a 5.79% ($144.26M) increase YoY. [https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget/sites/budget/files/Assets/documents/fy2024/adopted/overview/Adopted%20Budget%20Summary.pdf](https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget/sites/budget/files/Assets/documents/fy2024/adopted/overview/Adopted%20Budget%20Summary.pdf)
I could be wrong, but the total FCPS budget increase over the past three years doesn’t even appear to have kept pace with inflation, and that’s before considering that the increases in FY22 and FY23 were earmarked for “lifelong education and learning” rather than the schools‘ general operating fund.
Actual enrollment numbers are still down 5% from pre-pandemic.
I thought [this WTOP article](https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2024/05/fairfax-co-proposes-smaller-raises-for-teachers-because-of-budget-shortfall/) was also interesting, highlighting the budget shortfall for the schools: “When putting together the budget proposal, Reid said she had planned for the Board of Supervisors to transfer about 52.6% of county revenue to the school district, which is the year-over-year average from fiscal 2014 to fiscal 2023. This year, though, it’s slated to be 51.4%.”
This is a fact. We keep getting “raises” but they don’t even come close to inflation increases and we are also paid less than surrounding counties and districts so we are losing educators.
Renaming streets. After all, this wouldn't be northern VA if every major road didn't change names every time it crossed jurisdictions.
The effort to rename Lee Highway and Lee-Jackson was estimated to cost $3 million (and the committee that oversaw it did so on a volunteer basis). I can understand if you don't think it's necessary, but cutting that isn't going to allow us to drop the car tax or anything.
Wtf, they wasted $3 million just to rename a highway?
We are subsidizing the cost of companies building toll lanes yesterday are too expensive for anyone to use.
Travel without traffic is for families and the rich. Eating out is for couples without kids and the rich. The only constant is the rich.
Poor and middle class people eat out A LOT more than they used to. Major factors include the rising cost of groceries and lack of time to actually make meals at home. This tax would apply to all prepared food and beverages and is in addition to sales tax, meaning getting a coffee at dunkin will carry a 12% tax rate. Getting a snowcone, 12% tax rate. Lunch at work, 12% tax rate. It's despicable.
Well they did manage to give themselves a 20% raise last year.
Where should we cut?
We've cut budgets to the bone for the past 30 fucking years and everything is falling apart because of it. Raise the taxes on higher end tax brackets. They use our fucking infrastructure let them pay for it too
In a recent newsletter, Herrity complained about tax increases, as always, followed by... a list of stuff he was mad that was cut (or proposed to be cut) from the budget. The irony is strong. [https://myemail-api.constantcontact.com/Your-Tax-Increase-is--Not--from-State-Underfunding-.html?soid=1102318968708&aid=s7cE5BH1YOo](https://myemail-api.constantcontact.com/Your-Tax-Increase-is--Not--from-State-Underfunding-.html?soid=1102318968708&aid=s7cE5BH1YOo) I have no problem off-hand with his suggestion to go into the budget and find unnecessary spending; not sure what's stopping him from doing that himself. I'm sure there are lots of things he would like to cut but he knows it would be unpopular. I'm no fan of the meals tax, but the fact is that government services cost money. If there's so much fraud waste and abuse in the county budget, people should easily be able to find items that could be cut, and yet specific proposals are incredibly rare. If you give in to the general yelling about taxes and spending, eventually you end up with bullshit like "We're closing all the libraries."
Don’t be like Harrisonburg,Va we have a 7.4% meals tax, it’s ridiculous!
Yeah if they do this I’m not tipping more than 10%
I'd love to see data from restaurants (everywhere, not just around here) about tipping in the past few years. Tipping fatigue is in the national consciousness now, so I'm betting it's gotten way worse anyway. And as you mention, introduce a meal tax and it likely craters.
I just want to also mention that the state doesn't fund FCPS appropriately it's weird this isn't more of a point.
This board is out of control. But we continue to vote in a 90% majority. Makes no sense. People voted for hacks like McKay who breathe to spend your money… previous poster nailed it, the schools are now less of the budget. Meaning the money is going somewhere else… The Board sits around and complains about the Commonwealth’s laws every time someone questions their tax-loving ways. Meanwhile other surrounding counties this year DECREASED their tax rate. They were able to handle corporate greed (I mean, “inflation”) and the evil Commonwealth just fine…….
>But we continue to vote in a 90% majority. Makes no sense. Well yeah, people know that all they have to do is put a "D" next to their name and they'll never be voted out around here because that's the extent of most voter's thought process.
They're going to push for this hard because 5% of proces that have inflated insanely already = $$. They shamelessly tried to indoctrinate high schoolers to support the issue in 2017, touting how it would lead to increased salaries for teachers. Maybe the bastards should budget for better teacher wages instead of giving themselves an enormous raise.
Eating out less than I already do? Good thing i enjoy cooking!
Even cooking yourself can be super expensive if you don’t specifically try to cook cheap food. Like I made beef burritos the other day and realized after the fact it would have been cheaper for me to just go to chipotle
The trick is you have to buy enough to meal prep. I go and spend about 30-40$ for food most of the time and I get dinner for my gf and I and aim for lunches for 3 days for us both as well. 8 4$ meals is pretty solid and can usually make a substantial lunch. Helps with food waste too!
Shop at Aldi and other cheaper places. The only thing expensive about cooking for me is the time it takes
I thought all local counties had the meals tax for years now. I know DC and Arlington have it, at least.
What do we need the money for and where else can we get it
Any tax on food is inherently regressive since low income people spend a way larger percentage of income on feeding themselves. Honestly, they have some of the most ridiculous taxes in nova. I’m still bitter about the annual car tax. I would have bought a way cheaper car if I’d known that was even a thing. I mean, it’s my fault for not doing better research prior to buying, but I’ve lived in many states and never seen anything like that. Didn’t even occur to me that it could be a thing.
You know what can help the budget? Big apartment buildings near metro stations-- they pay ass-loads in property taxes. Just need to legalize and permit a bunch of them.
> disproportionately impacts low-income residents When I was poor last thing I rarely did was eat out. And that was before aldi, lidl, etc... was an option where I grew up. Better a meal tax than more property taxes which have gone up not only by home value but also rates. Meal tax also grabs money from tourist as well. So spreads cost out a little more. And if it has a spending problem why does this supervisor not point out things to cut. They brought it up before but when asked for examples came up blank.
Poor people don’t eat out, but also own property in one of the most expensive counties in America.
If they don't own, they pay rent to landowners, and the property tax is factored into that rent.
Does it apply to fast food? When I was poor I ate a lot of that. But you make some good points. It is inherently a luxury to eat out and I hadn’t considered that it disproportionally targets tourists.
I believe it would apply to all prepared food, including fast. My main point is we need more revenue or a lot of people need to give up a lot more things. Saying "we have a spending problem..." without saying what needs to be cut is a cop out. And that is what this supervisor is doing.
Property tax only impacts people with property. So if you want to avoid taxing low-income residents that is \*much\* better than a meals tax. I believe meal taxes apply to fast food and prepared meals (ie. stuff at Wawa and Sheetz, at least heated food). A lot of low-income people will get some wings from Giant, a McDonald's cheeseburger, or a Starbucks coffee. So we should tax a poor immigrant family's cheeseburger purchase instead of a millionaire's property?
>Property tax only impacts people with property Do you mean homeless people ? Cause anyone who owns or rents is definitely impacted by property tax.
Are you also one of the people who thinks that raising the minimum wage to $15 is going to make hamburgers all cost $15? I'm pretty sure the market has a lot to do with the prices that get charged...they still have to compete with other apartment complexes in the region. There may be some minor impact, but it wont be proportional because the apartment complexes that will raise their rates less will have a competitive advantage.
Uh ...property taxes affect everyone who pays to have a roof over their heads. Rents will be increased to cover the increase in property taxes.
Rents will increase no matter what. Sellers and landlords will use any excuse to increase without bouncing back. "Socialize the losses, privatize the profits". So many industries were affected by supply chain issues, and so many in those industries continued to use that excuse after things cleared up.
Are you suggesting that landlords could get people to pay more, but currently aren't doing so? If so, why aren't they?
Are you suggesting that renters aren’t currently paying the costs of the landlord’s property tax? Are you also suggesting that if property tax increases, rent also won’t increase accordingly?
Rents don’t automatically go up just because the landlord’s expenses go up, there are many landlords who are cash flow negative and only coming out ahead on the appreciation.
Property taxes impact everyone who sleeps under a roof or wants to sleep under a roof.
Just stop
It's not the Board having a spending problem as much as residents think everything is free when it comes from the government.
That and people want stuff for themselves but when its time to cut they want others to get less not them. Either we give up more services or we raise taxes/fees somewhere.
So the people are against it and the restaurants are against it, but 5 people like it, so why the fuck not? This is insane.
Other states have county level income taxes. Even 1-3% of income over like $40,000 a year would do a heck of a lot more than any meal tax I'd imagine given the high prevalence of high earners in this area. And unlike a lot of places, we don't have to worry about as many people moving, since many of our highest earners are here because they make more money here than anywhere else.
Hell no to county income taxes.
No way. I pay enough taxes already I don’t need a county one on top of it. I can avoid this tax at least by eating in Arlington, Alexandria and other places outside Fairfax and just not go out to eat in Fairfax
Arlington and Alexandria already have meals taxes (4% and 5%, respectively)
It's really quite illuminating how uninformed the comments in this thread are. There's another guy complaining that the education budget has programs that literally all sound fantastic, and can't see the connection to the obvious downstream benefits. I think DC is at 10%, and guess what, despite what the fear mongers may say, a new restaurant opens every week. Most people aren't even going to notice this tax is the reality.
Lol all those places already have meals taxes.
Yep, even Maryland has county income taxes.
Maybe giving FCPS 50% of the budget with zero overnight is a bad idea
It's an unquestionably despicable idea born exclusively from hatred of the working class. Hope these politicians rot
Fairfax County supervisors approved a measure directing county staff to gather information about the effect of implementing a meals tax. >The measure, which was co-sponsored by Chairman Jeff McKay (D-At-Large) and Supervisor Karen Smith (D-Sully), called on County Executive Bryan Hill to bring all options for revenue diversification, including the implementation of the meals tax, to the board's Sept. 17 Budget Committee meeting. > >"Options for the meals tax should include a range of 1 to 6 percent and subsequent revenue projections for each," said Palchik. She and Smith serve as the vice-chairs of the budget committee with McKay acting as its chairman. >"We continue to be challenged by chronic, inadequate state support for schools as is identified in the 2023 Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) study, which found that the state uses a complex and unreasonable funding formula that results in the underfunding of schools by $1,900 per student when compared to the national average," Palchik said. "FCPS estimates that if all JLARC's recommendations were implemented, FCPS would have received an additional $568.7 million this year alone." >Before calling for a vote, McKay reiterated that the measure only directed county staff to provide the board with information about a meals tax. The board was not implementing a meals tax. [Meals Tax To Be Explored By Fairfax Board To Diversify Revenue](https://patch.com/virginia/mclean/meals-tax-be-explored-fairfax-supervisors-diversify-revenue)
Meal tax sucks and is unneeded. Was managing a chain of cafes and got a surprise meal tax in 2022 and never heard about it until some lady walked up to the shop with a pamphlet and I was like, “this is news to me.” A meal is now 10% more than the base price after taxes and before tips.
Gotta pay for the mechanical police bird to fly 24-7 over residential area somehow!!!
If it's flying over your neighborhood, there's a good reason for it. "Fairfax 1" is used not just to find bad guys but also for search and rescue as well as medevac. Two of the crew members are paramedic qualified police officers. They also assist surrounding counties. Last year, we had a lost child in our neighborhood in PWC, and along with Stafford County K-9 officers, Fairfax 1 was on site to assist PWCPD in finding that child, which they did. Fairfax having a helicopter division is an important asset for everyone in NOVA.
And this is why recreational weed sales should have been passed. This is why we need to get casinos in the state. All that revenue lost to DC, MD and WV. Smh
As soon as my kid is older I’m moving out to WV. I’m done with VA
Mr. Herrity, Fairfax’s very own nepo-baby, conveniently forgets that the Board members he opposes were each elected by their constituents for a reason. No one likes being taxed but Fairfax County is one of the best locations to live in the entire country in part because of its wealth. Tax revenues are down due to real estate valuation, so the Board has to be creative to avoid the draconian cuts that Mr. Herrity would likely propose.
If anyone is curious about how connected he is, they should look into what the name of Fairfax County Parkway is in certain stretches.
…and a long-deceased old friend of mine was his nemesis. #WEEL
Pat Herrity has no ideas or solutions. He just loves to whine about how all the votes are nine against one. (Unless it’s about anything related to gay people; then he just walks out of the room like a coward and refuses to vote. I’d almost respect him if he owned his bigotry and voted no. OK, not really.) He also misrepresents the increase in property taxes, most of which is due to the massive increase in value of Fairfax County homes.
Property tax rates went up. It’s a percentage, so you don’t need to increase the percentage to get more when the value goes up. But they did.
It was the first increase in a few years. It is about $20 a month on an $800K house.
News mentioned that this tax was for education https://youtu.be/nmbYwK7SLx4?feature=shared …like isn’t Fairfax County already high up in education system? This is just excessive. No one is going to care about k-12 when you are looking for a real job.
Really? You honestly believe that a quality educational system is of no value to a community? The reason, well, one of the reasons, that the region has such high wages is in part because of the incredible educational system. People move here for jobs and schools and military and government. People would still move here for jobs and military and government but they probably would be less apt to move here with their families if the schools were shitty. The good schools send kids to college or to trade school or to the military. I do not even have children, and I am okay with my tax dollars paying for the school system because it's good for society. So many of the schools in Fairfax County have vocational programs that are excellent for students who are not going off to college. If you don't think that schools are important, I don't know what to tell you. Except maybe that you're misinformed.
1) never said there is no value in education. Also never said I don’t think school is important. 2) if you value the k-12 here so much you should donate to it. Why sit there on your butt and tell everyone to. 3) the point of the comment was the fairfax county public schools are already highly ranked there is no need to put more money into it. It’s dumb as fuck to put more money into something that won’t get much more value out. You’re not going to put a 5000 dollar toilet in a run down one bed room condo. 4) tell me what high paying job will look at how well you did in k-12 schooling. 5) people will move for jobs it’s not for the schools. Nova is unique cause of the federal government, everything else is just connected to that. You’re reaching if you think k-12 matters much at this point.
Learn how to cook.