Tag: Henrico meals tax
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Hmmm. Tastes Like Chicken.
Time to eat crow. The tax assessment numbers are in for Henrico County, and they are disappointing indeed — up only 2.8% from last year. (I blogged about Chesterfield’s assessment results yesterday.) I had suggested that soaring home sales prices would give a much bigger boost to the tax base, obviating the need for a…
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How to Get a Meals Tax Passed
by James A. Bacon This past April the Richmond Association of Realtors commissioned a poll to assess the views of Henrico County voters toward a proposed 4% meals tax. When CEO Laura Lafayette reviewed the results, she knew the pro-tax forces faced a major challenge in getting the tax enacted. Respondents opposed the idea 67%…
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One Battle Ends and Another Begins
by James A. Bacon Goliath won in Henrico County yesterday. The political class got its 4% meals tax yesterday, squeaking by with a two-point margin of victory. With an extra $18 million in revenue, the Board of Supervisors will be able to meet Henrico’s challenges without altering the way the county does business. The status…
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Pitching the Meals Tax to Minorities and the Poor
by James A. Bacon I guess the “it’s for the sweet little children” mantra isn’t working. Proponents of the Henrico County meals tax have upped the ante. Now a pro-tax advocacy group, Yes 4 Henrico’s Kids, is appealing to class and racial resentments of residents in the east end of the county, who are more…
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The Truth Trickles Out… Henrico Home Sales Still Booming
by James A. Bacon Well, well, well. How about that. Home prices are still booming in the Richmond region, according to the latest Richmond Association of Realtors (RAR) data. In Henrico County, where citizens will vote on a 4% meals tax in November, the median sales price increased 11% in the third quarter of 2013.…
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More Pandering for the Meals Tax
by James A. Bacon The Times-Dispatch reports more puke-inducing rhetoric from the pro-meals tax forces in Henrico County. This time, the intelligence-insulting blather comes from Yes 4 Henrico’s Kids, a group that has solicited $145,000 from business groups to tout the tax. “I think we’re going to win” the referendum in November, said Laura Lafayette,…
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Democracy in Action: Henrico County Style
by James A. Bacon Henrico County officials doubled down last night on their claim that a 4% meals tax would be paid largely by out-of-state residents. Previously, they had contended that 40% of the tax would be paid by non-resident workers and visitors to the county. Now, in light of new data provided by Richmond…
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Think Henrico Government Has Cut Back? How about Henrico Citizens?
by James A. Bacon As Mark Twain famously said, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Anyone can slant an argument in his favor by cherry picking statistics. I try to avoid that. As proof, I will offer some numbers regarding Henrico County government expenditures over the past decade that make my opposition to the…
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Henrico’s Cynical It’s-All-for-the-Children Gambit
by James A. Bacon It’s all for the children. It’s always for the children! Here’s how Virgil Hazelett, former Henrico County administrator, justified yesterday slapping a 4% meals tax on Henrico families, most of whom have seen a steady erosion of their take-home income over the past several years thanks to a sluggish economy and…
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Now You See It, Now You Don’t
by James A. Bacon Henrico County government officials, who have campaigned in support of a 4% meals tax referendum in every way conceivable short of actually saying, “Vote for the meals tax,” have released a list of “expenditure cuts, absorptions and efficiency savings” to document their claim that the county has “cut $115 million and…
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Compare and Contrast: Chesterfield and Henrico on the Meals Tax
by James A. Bacon Henrico County isn’t the only Virginia jurisdiction where citizens will vote on a meals-tax referendum this fall. Chesterfield County leaders also are seeking a meals tax. But the approach taken by the two localities is very different, which may explain why Henrico residents are restive while their neighbors south of the…
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Boilerplate, Hocus Pocus and a False Choice
by James A. Bacon So, Laura Lafayette, CEO of the Richmond Association of Realtors, has responded to my recent column in the Times-Dispatch regarding the Henrico County meals tax. Much of the column consists of boilerplate pro-tax talking points that you can find on the Henrico County’s supposedly non-advocacy “informational” meals-tax website. But she does…
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County Speak with Forked Tongue
by James A. Bacon To justify a proposed 4% meals tax, Henrico County officials have repeatedly invoked the fact that county government has cut $115 million from its budget (set at $785 million this fiscal year), and it just can’t cut no more. The county’s meals-tax advocacy website, Henrico County Meals Tax, frames the issue…
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Growing Skepticism of Proposed Henrico Meals Tax
Speaking of the Henrico meals tax… WTVR ran this piece asking whether Henrico County’s meals tax website was breaking the state law against spending state dollars on advocacy promotion. I’ll forgive the TV station for failing to credit Bacon’s Rebellion for raising this issue — I’m just happy the matter is getting some attention. Clearly,…