Tax Hikes and Cuts in Arlington, Fairfax
Well, Arlington County has finally gotten around to looking at the real estate tax for 2006, and their choice to decrease the rate by $0.06 per $100 to 81.8ยข. Last year, my tax bill was $2,370.60, roughly, and with my new assessment and the new rate, I’ll be paying a whopping $2,854.82. Thanks for raising my taxes, Arlington. Adding insult to injury, they also raised the Personal Property Tax Rate from $4.40 to $5.00 per $100 of assessed value. Though, it’s not all bad news in Arlington, as the Homeowner’s Grant Program will put an additional $100 in the pockets of households whose income is less than $77,407.
Fairfax county lowered their tax rate by 11 cents, though their rate is a good 7 cents more than Arlington. However they also voted themselves a $16,000 pay-raise for elected officials. Alexandria is expected to vote their budget tomorrow, with real estate tax rates looking to come down there, as well. However, with rising assessments, we’re still looking at effective tax hikes for residents in most of these communities.
There is a popular misconception about property taxes in Fairfax County. Know what it is?
It is the perception that Fairfax County reduced the tax rate, and therefore, reduced the property tax.
Following is what happened this year (2006):
1. In February, 2006, the Commmonwealth of Virginia reduced the tax rate from $1 to $0.83. Read the Code of Virginia, Section 58.1-3321.
2. Fairfax County increased the $0.83 tax rate to $0.89. That’s a 7.2% tax increase.
So, while Fairfax County is telling us that they cut the tax rate, in reality, they increased it!
Let me correct one thing in my previous post. The tax rate was reduced from $1 to $0.835, not $0.83. My mistake.