Tag: Henrico meals tax
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What the Henrico Meals Tax Website Doesn’t Tell You
I wrote this op-ed for the Times-Dispatch, which published it this morning. JAB As an 11-year resident, I long deemed Henrico County a well-run locality. It has the lowest property tax rate among Virginia’s largest counties yet maintains an AAA bond rating. Its employees are helpful and courteous, and its schools are reasonably well regarded.…
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Henrico’s Imploding Case for the Meals Tax
by James A. Bacon Henrico County’s governing class justifies a proposed 4% meals tax, expected to raise $18 million a year, as necessary to ward off calamitous budget cuts. The revenues are needed, county officials say, because stagnant tax revenues aren’t sufficient to pay for rising pension liabilities and environmental mandates. There may have been…
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If It Looks Like a Skunk and Smells Like a Skunk…
Have Henrico County officials violated the Code of Virginia by publishing a website supporting a 4% meals tax scheduled for a referendum this fall? That all depends on where you draw the line between “information” and “advocacy.” I raised the issue yesterday in a blog post (“County Paid Propaganda?”) that took note of the newly…
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County Paid Propaganda? Citizens Want Answers!
by James A. Bacon Henrico County has launched a website to tout a 4% meals tax proposal that voters will accept or reject in a referendum this fall. With slick graphics and professionally produced video, Henrico County Meals Tax Facts, created by the West Cary Group ad agency, cost $20,250, reports the Times-Dispatch today. The…