After months of negotiations, the Virginia General Assembly agreed in March on a transportation plan that will provide approximately $400 million in new revenues for Northern Virginia.
The Northern Virginia regional plan will be implemented and controlled by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority. The money raised in the region will remain in Northern Virginia. Six of the nine member localities must vote to implement the slate of taxes and fees contained within the regional plan. It is expected that September 2007 would be the earliest these fees would be implemented, though approval may likely come in early 2008.
The taxes and fees in the Northern Virginia plan are:
- 40 cents per $100 increase in the real estate grantor’s tax
- 2 percent increase in the rental car tax
- 2 percent increase in the hotel/motel occupancy tax
- $10 increase in the vehicle safety inspection fee
- 1 percent initial vehicle registration fee (for new car purchases or those moving into the region)
- 5 percent sales tax on auto repairs
- $10 regional auto registration fee
In addition, the authority may choose to implement the following optional revenues:
- Annual commercial real estate fee of up to 25 cents per $100
- $10 local car registration fee
- Commercial/residential impact fee (amount to be determined)
Statewide revenues, in which Northern Virginia will share, include new fees for abusive drivers, a statewide vehicle registration fee of $10 and an increase in the diesel gas tax of 1.5 cents per gallon. The statewide plan also dedicates revenues from the existing recordation tax and insurance premium taxes, which will be used to issue bonds of up to $3 billion.
THE IMPACT: This new legislation will provide all the roads necessary for property owners to get out of Northern Virginia because they won't be able to afford their new taxes as the bulk of the funding for this program is on the backs of property owners. After all, we already built the rest of the roads in Virginia, why shouldn't we have to build our own? In the end, HB 3202 includes a transportation package for Northern Virginia that authorizes a 400% increase in the Grantor's Tax, bringing the tax on a $600,000 home in Northern Virginia from $600 to $3,000 when they sell their home. This is a great concept, tax the people who are leaving since they really impact roads, and in this time when foreclosures are escalating and more and more people are being forced to bring funds to the table, increase their burden. Combine this with optional impact fees which are also included in the final bill the chance of getting an affordable home in Northern Virginia decreases substantially. VAR took no position on these housing related issues except to say that they support Regional Authorities.
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