Taxation
GRCC supports the creation of a public finance system for the construction, maintenance and replacement of capital infrastructure in Virginia, including measures that properly align revenue sources with expenditure requirements among Virginia’s state and local levels of government. To facilitate achieving these objectives, GRCC supports the following:
- Using unbudgeted and nonrecurring surplus tax revenues to fund non-recurring capital expenditures in the areas of transportation and education or to supplement the Commonwealth’s rainy day fund, rather than for new or recurring programmatic expenses;
- Consideration of tax simplification strategies at the state and federal level;
- Revenue sharing with localities to ensure that local governments can share in the growth of revenues created by increased economic activity;
- Providing counties with the same taxing authority as cities and towns;
- Representation by commercial property owners on local bodies with budget authority affecting expenditure of real estate tax receipts;
- Continued exemption of internet sales from state sales tax until a uniform structure of taxation of such transactions is adopted nationally;
- Continued consideration of increasing the tax on tobacco up to or above the national average and dedicating the increased revenue to fund medical costs currently borne by the Commonwealth;
- An equitable system for the resolution of tax disputes, including a streamlined process to adjudicate the dispute with no requirement to pay the disputed amount of the assessment prior to a decision on the merits;
- Enactment of local and regional taxes authorized by the General Assembly in 2007 to fund transportation projects in Northern Virginia;
- Continued exclusion of sales taxes on the provision of services;
- Maintaining Virginia’s tradition of uniform taxation of residential and commercial property.