Countywide

As Fairfax County leaders explore adding new sources of revenue, an advocacy campaign has emerged in opposition to a potential tax on prepared food.

Though many Northern Virginia localities already have meals taxes, a nonprofit called Fairfax Families and Workers Against the Food Tax that publicly launched last week argues the tax would be unpopular with Fairfax County residents, who narrowly rejected the idea at the ballot box twice before.


News

Fairfax County is looking at Reston’s Lake Anne area and the Huntington Metro station as the next candidates for a program that offers tax breaks and other incentives to jumpstart revitalization efforts.

Both areas have proven difficult to redevelop and are seeing stagnant real estate values, despite their prime locations and the county’s overall economic growth, according to Elizabeth Hagg, director of the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Development’s community revitalization section.


Countywide

Fairfax County is once again chewing on the possibility of a meals tax — and this time, it won’t need a public vote for approval.

The Board of Supervisors voted 9-1 yesterday (Tuesday) to instruct County Executive Bryan Hill and his staff to develop strategies for broadening the county’s revenue sources as it seeks to reduce the growing tax burden on homeowners. One option could be a tax on food and drink sales.


Countywide

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has signed off on a 3-cent bump in its real estate tax rate, a move it said was partly forced by insufficient state funding.

The board approved the new rate yesterday (Tuesday) as part of a mark-up session on the fiscal year 2025 budget, which will be formally adopted next Tuesday, May 7. The 3-cent hike is expected to generate about $97 million in additional revenue for the county — about $32.3 million less compared to the 4-cent increase initially proposed.


Countywide

Real estate taxes will likely go up for Fairfax County homeowners in the coming year, but perhaps not by as much as they could.

The Board of Supervisors plans to approve a 3-cent tax rate increase, down from the four cents that was advertised. That will reduce the average tax bill hike from about $524 to just over $450.


News

A Great Falls man pleaded guilty on Friday (March 15) to failing to pay $1.8 million to the Internal Revenue Service.

Rick Tariq Rahim, 55, owned and operated several businesses, including laser tag facilities, and he worked as an Amazon reseller, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Virginia.


News

(Updated at 2:40 p.m.) Vienna officials have released a proposed budget that maintains the town’s current real estate tax rate, despite continued economic challenges from inflation and supply chain issues.

The $53.8 million budget for fiscal year 2025, which starts July 1, holds the tax rate at $0.1950 per $100 of assessed value. Combined with a cumulative 3-cent reduction over the previous three years, the town will have cut its tax rate by 14% since 2021, Town Manager Mercury Payton said in a message to Mayor Linda Colbert and the town council.


Countywide

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has advanced a proposal for a 4-cent real estate tax increase, which would mark the first hike in six years, if approved.

Yesterday (Tuesday), the board gave County Executive Bryan Hill the green light to advertise the fiscal year 2025 proposed budget and schedule a public hearing starting Tuesday, April 16, at 3 p.m.


Countywide

As anticipated, Fairfax County is looking at a tight budget for the coming year that will once again lean primarily on residential property owners to offset a declining commercial tax base.

County Executive Bryan Hill has proposed a 4-cent increase in the real estate tax rate, even as he presented an advertised fiscal year 2025 budget to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors yesterday (Tuesday) that largely limits spending to obligations like public schools and employee compensation.


Countywide

At the halfway point of his administration, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin unveiled a budget proposal that calls for significant income tax cuts, increases in state sales and use tax — and a push to get rid of the car tax, which the Republican called “the single most hated tax” in Virginia.

“The car tax belongs in the trash can and not in your mailbox,” he said.


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