Fairfax County supervisors might take the first step today toward a commercial and industrial tax increase that could raise nearly $110 million a year for transportation projects.
The potential tax hike is one of the major local revenue sources authorized under the statewide transportation bill approved this year by the Virginia legislature. It could add as much as 25 cents tax per $100 of value on retail, office and other non-residential space on top of Fairfax County’s existing rate of 89 cents.
A vote of approval Monday would craft a new distinction, for tax purposes, between those properties and residential land and allow the board to consider the increase as it prepares its budget next spring.
The use of the revenue raised through the increase would be at the discretion of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Much of the money could go toward funding major road projects on the board’s four-year transportation plan, including upgrading the intersection of Gallows Road and Route 29 and widening Stringfellow Road.
“The whole purpose of this is [the revenue] would stay in Fairfax County,” Fairfax County spokeswoman Merni Fitzgerald said.
Anti-tax activist Arthur Purves, president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance, called the potential increase “deceptive,” arguing that although it is levied only on commercial and industrial land, homeowners would feel its effects in the form of costlier services.
“It’s time to cease and desist … commercial real estate taxes will be passed on to the consumer,” he said.
Purves, a Republican, is challenging Democrat Steve Shannon for the 35th District House of Delegates seat.
A public hearing on the tax measure is set for 5 p.m., though it appears unlikely the item will be reached before the evening becauseit is the last item on a heavy agenda that follows the board’s monthlong break.
