His attitude toward the traffic problems of the Northern Virginia burbs, where I’ve spent much of my life, and where my father still lives, is basically one of ‘you can solve your problem any way you want to, but we’re not going to give you the authority to raise money yourselves to deal with the problem, nor is the state going to dedicate money to the problem, nor will the state give the localities adequate authority to engage in any sort of planning, land use, or growth management activities. And while you’re at it, if you ever need to skin a bear, here’s a toothpick. Good luck.’
The car tax - boy howdy, I’ve been debating this one since before I ever dreamed I’d be moving out of Virginia. When compared to other taxes, what the $%&! is wrong with the car tax?!?
I mean, Virginia still has a sales tax on groceries, fercryinoutloud. Dont’cha think you should get rid of that, first??
Let’s look at the car tax, just by itself, though.
The car tax, one would think, is a tax that even a conservative could love. My wife and I, in our last year in Virginia, with two reliable (if somewhat old) vehicles, paid a grand total of $59 in car taxes. We’ve occasionally spent more than that on dinner. So what’s the beef?
There are two things going on, really: affluent people are buying expensive SUVs and whatnot, and as a result, getting bigger car tax bills. (Awww.) And affluent localities are choosing to levy higher personal property tax rates than did the county I resided in, in order to help finance the government services that people in affluent suburbs have come to expect. (So affluent people are having to pay for what they get from government. Double awww.)
Still, the thing is, the personal property tax (in Virginia, and apparently in most of the states that have one) is a local tax, levied by a city or county; it’s one of their few alternatives to the property tax.
There are two other reasons, though, why conservatives should wait until every other tax has been phased out before going after the car tax: thrift and choice.
The choice, here, is in how much tax to pay: by deciding whether to buy a six-year-old Accord instead of a new SUV, I can drastically reduce my car-tax bill. Buy new and/or upscale, you pay more. Used and/or downscale, less. Simple.
And that fact means the tax encourages thrift, which used to be a conservative Good Thing.
But then, I’m a liberal. What do I know?
(So, when does this thread get moved to GD, where it belongs?)
