The trouble with taxes

Things funded by local taxes pictured  below

(Recent anonymous feedback contended that only comments that "agree with my (GOMM's) narrative" are published. Comments that address the topic of the post without profanity or personal attacks will be published.)

No one likes to pay taxes. We all want the other guy to foot the bill. Trouble is, the government services we want and need, especially at the local level, are not funded with fairy dust.

Goochland County mailed real estate and personal property tax bills a few weeks ago, causing outrage on social media and undoubtedly at supervisors via phone and email. Do these citizens ever complain to their state or federal elected representatives about taxes?

On May 17, the supervisors passed an emergency ordinance delaying imposition of late fees and interest penalties until August 1 to give people more time to pay their tax bills. Some want the rate reduced to balance out the increased valuations, others worry that the supervisors will squander what they characterize as a "windfall".

Goochland vehicle values are computed using tables mandated by state government. Thanks to "supply chain shortages" the number of available used vehicles is far less than the demand, which increases prices, pretty basic economics. That does not lessen the pain of higher personal property taxes levied on vehicle values that have risen, rather than decreased due to depreciation, as was the norm in former times. Runaway inflation on everything else makes the situation more painful.

So far, there have been few complaints about real estate tax bills, which, although the rate remains unchanged at 53 cents per $100 of valuation, have also risen this year due to higher assessments. Maybe that's because many people's real estate taxes are escrowed—part of mortgage payments—so they haven’t seen that increase, yet.

If we had to write checks for each tax we pay, especially federal and state, maybe there would be more protest. Withholding—created by an evil genius—is a version of cooking the frog. You never see the money "withheld" for tax in your paycheck, so it doesn't seem real; it's hard to miss something you never had. This lets the government use your money interest-free if you are due a refund.

Back to personal property taxes. Henrico is being used as an exemplar for its rhetoric about personal property tax adjustments and possible rebates. Henrico has many more revenue streams than Goochland. For instance, it collects meals taxes from restaurants and sales taxes from retail businesses. Just think how many of those are located in Henrico west of Parham Road.

Goochland has one hotel and a few restaurants. We do not have a meals tax. How many Goochlanders shop and dine in Henrico, leaving their sales tax dollars there? It seems unlikely that the reverse is widely true.

The population of Henrico County is, according to the 2020 census, more than 330,000.  Goochland's population is just under 25,000. The nine or so square miles considered to be Short Pump, which is part of Henrico, has approximately 27,000 residents. The “pain” in Henrico can be spread more widely there.

Goochlanders want to remain rural. The less economic development in a jurisdiction, the greater burden on real estate and personal property taxpayers.

Local tax dollars stay here. They pay the salaries of our teachers, deputies, fire-rescue providers, and others who work for us. Federal and state tax dollars go to big pots in Washington and Richmond where they are redistributed according to purposely vague formulas. Goochland gets the short end of the stick in these schemes because we are considered a wealthy community due to income statistics. In 2021, Goochland’s median income—half are higher, half lower—was $93,994. Of this, 17 per cent earn more than $200k, 14 percent less than $25k. (see https://www.goochlandva.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2009 page 16 for details.)

Real estate assessments are another sore spot. This year assessed valuations of many properties exceeded those in 2009, the high-water mark before the great recession crushed home prices. The tax rate for all of those years was 53 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, the same as today. (Go to the county website https://www.goochlandva.us/ lick on parcel viewer and review the valuation of your property over the years under previous assessments.)

Local tax dollars stay close to home. The county budget process is very transparent, but few people pay attention until the bill comes.