Truth about the Car Tax
From George Marchenko:
On March 12, 1952 the Henrico County government passed ordinances creating three new taxes to help pay for school construction: a car tax, a $1 per head tax on each adult, and a business and professional license tax. It is worthwhile to note that the county lobbied the General Assembly to legalize a car tax and which was implemented without a public hearing. The car tax was then sold to the public as a temporary measure to partially fund new schools over the next 5 years.
50 years after their expected termination these taxes remain in place, have not been used to help fund school construction since the introduction of school construction bonds, and removed an estimated $560,000,000 from the local free market. But the real injustice is fifty years of County Board of Supervisors and County Manager knowledge that these taxes achieved their intended purpose over a generation ago and who themselves have done nothing.
With a collective 86 years of current Board member tenure (Kaechele 28 years, Glover 20, Donati 15, O'Bannon 12, Thornton 11) not a single Board member has uttered their support for the repeal of these outdated taxes. Yet Supervisors will fall all over themselves to get citizen’s support for new taxes like the meals tax in 2005. And like the car tax, the meals tax offered no commitment for direct taxpayer benefit and had no sunset provisions. Fortunately for Henrico citizens and businesses the tax was defeated.
Henrico County has found countless other ways to spend these taxes since 1957. And why not. No candidate has publicly called for their repeal until now. In this election year I urge this Board to repeal the annual car tax that their predecessors pledged to retire in 1957. And as a candidate for Henrico County Board of Supervisors this year, I am the only candidate [in the Tuckahoe district] who will insist that county government be held accountable to voters and citizens, repeal outdated taxes, and work to dis-assemble the grossly oversized establishment known as Henrico County government.
[Editor's Note: This sounds a lot like the BPOL tax, which was implemented to fund the War of 1812 and is still with us]