State forces local taxes higher

Enough is enough.

For a number of years, the Virginia General Assembly has boasted its success of "not raising your taxes." But is this claim really true?

No, they haven't recently raised your income tax. And they haven't increased the sales tax. Nor the gasoline tax, which helps pay for your roads. They actually reduced or eliminated some taxes, such as the estate tax.

But your local property taxes have probably gone up. And while state lawmakers beat their chests and brag about reducing taxes, they are actually vicariously causing local property taxes to increase.

How?

Devolution.

During the past decade, the state has devolved more and more services to local governments and even at times shunned its constitutional responsibilities to deliver — or pay for — services to our citizens.

In order to balance the budget and not raise taxes, legislators have resorted to gimmicks such as underfunding the Virginia Retirement System, or reducing statutory payments for law enforcement departments, or merely shifting the funding of state-mandated programs to localities. These actions have inevitably caused local taxes to increase.

According to the Virginia Constitution, the General Assembly "shall provide a system of free public elementary and secondary education." Over the years, public schools have been supported by the state, with supplemental funding coming from local tax dollars.

Recently, however, the state has gradually reduced its proportionate share of funding for public education, thereby shifting more costs to local governments. Again, the state has vicariously raised local taxes.

Recently, the state has been severely challenged to balance its budget without raising taxes. Without sufficient revenue to meet its expenses, the legislature simply reduced its contribution to a number of programs that are funded jointly from state and local sources — such as libraries, social services and constitutional officers.

In effect, $60 million of your local property taxes were remitted each year to balance the state budget.

Now the state wants to devolve the transportation system of secondary roads and bridges to the counties. Since 1932, the state has constructed and maintained most of the roads in the commonwealth, partially funded by a state gasoline tax. This was a conscious decision by the state to avoid having a patchwork of disparate roadways throughout Virginia, which could have a negative impact on economic development.

However, since the state gasoline tax has not been raised since 1986, the dollars available for road construction and maintenance have not kept up with the needs.

In fact, transportation dollars are so scarce that Virginia is losing federal transportation money because it cannot provide the modest matching funds.

The transportation system is such a drain on the state budget that some want to shed the entire system — now a neglected system of potholes and traffic gridlock — to local governments to maintain at local expense. That means your property taxes will have to be raised.

Devolution doesn't have to be a bad word. It can be a sign of progress if our state leaders redefine their priorities.

Instead of shunning responsibilities and shifting costs, work with localities to find solutions.

State and local leaders must continue to work with the business community to reform the tax system so counties aren't solely reliant on regressive real estate taxation -- and allow local government the authority and flexibility to adapt its taxation measures accordingly.

Virginia should be evolving not devolving.

Enough is enough.