Friday, January 29, 2010
Editorial: Put all options on the menu
A meals tax could be the difference between lean times and starvation.
From the RoundTable blog
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Under a bill that passed the Virginia Senate this week, counties would be permitted to levy a meals tax in an amount local leaders think appropriate.
The bill pulls double duty. It removes the 4 percent cap for counties with an existing tax on prepared food, and it allows counties without the tax to enact one without having first to clear a voter referendum.
A select few counties, including Roanoke and Montgomery, in years past gained special dispensation to bypass a referendum and hold a public hearing instead. Why them and not all is due to the fractured way the General Assembly fashions laws to favor some and exclude others. That all counties should play by the same rules in deciding whether to enact a meals tax is fair, overdue and the least controversial aspect of the bill.
The provision that lifts the cap is also fair and overdue, though likely to draw some opposition in the hyper tax-averse House.
Republican delegates should consider the bill sponsored by their fellow party member, Sen. Frederick Quayle of Suffolk, in this light:
When they leave Richmond after whacking another $4 billion from the state budget, they will return home. There, they will confront the damage they wrought to county governments and schools. At the very least, they should empower counties to mitigate the damage.
