Norfolk car tax to increase

Former Governor Jim Gilmore won election based on doing away with the car tax. The program to do away with the tax called for the state to reimburse the localities. Due to the expense of the program, the reimbursement has never exceeded 70%. In 2005, the General Assembly changed the funding formula. Instead of reimbursing a fixed percentage, they decided to reimburse a maximum dollar amount, leaving it to the localities to figure out what percentage of the car tax this would cover. I recall a conversation I had last spring with Senator Nick Rerras (6th) regarding this and he felt the level of reimbursement was sufficient; I was skeptical.

As the result, during my run for treasurer last year, one of the things I advocated was a change to the frequency of car tax billings. Norfolk bills only once a year for the car tax. Given the fixed reimbursement, I knew the bills had to go up and shifting to semiannual billing – like most of the surrounding cities – would ease the burden on taxpayers. Today’s Pilot shows that my prediction that the car tax would rise has come true. The capped reimbursement works out to be only 60% of the actual car tax, so the residents of Norfolk will be seeing larger car tax bills. The bills, which will be mailed soon, will be due June 5.

In a time of rising real estate taxes, higher gas prices, and other increases in the cost of living, people’s resources are stretched. Allowing people to pay in smaller increments helps with home budgeting. Now is the time for Norfolk to change its billing practices, before the bills get too large and more people get behind.