The Council decided on our legislative priorities that we will present to our representatives (Mr. Colgan and Mr. Miller) next week.  At the top of the list  (not surprisingly) are the preservation of the Machinery & Tools tax and the BPOL tax.

The Governor has made the elimination of these taxes a central piece of his administration (well, right next to his brilliant plan to sell the ABC stores) in order to make Virginia a more attractive place to do business.  According to CNBC, Virginia is the #2 state in the union in which to do business.  We’ve gone back and forth with Texas for the #1 spot in the survey every year since the survey started.  The thing you should know about that CNBC poll is that it is weighted (as one would expect) towards business concerns.  “Cost of doing business” carries a weight of 450 points.  Education carries a weight 1/3 that of “Cost of doing business”.  Pursuant to that, the survey also notes that Virginia’s ranking is emperiled as our spending on education is falling and class sizes are going up.  I run a small business in Virginia and am all for maintaining a business friendly environment – I pay all of those taxes.  However, I’m not interested in that objective if we have to go to extremes to get there.  I believe that we require good schools, public safety and, at some point, need to bring back things like Parks and Rec. that we have crushed over the past 3 years.  I don’t want to live in a gulag.  Nor do most people.  Indeed, the elimination of this funding will further erode the City’s ability to compete for the middle- and upper-income citizens that have formed the base of the City for so long.

If those two taxes are eliminated it will cut $7.5 million dollars from the schools and the City.  Keep in mind that the City budget is already 15% smaller than it was a couple of years ago.  We’re already down to the level where if we lose much more revenue, it’s going to mean the elimination of most of the things that makes Manassas what it is and possible cuts to public safety.  Certainly we would have layoffs equal to what we have already experienced and property tax rates would soar.  The last time this happened was when IBM left.  The Council then decided to make up the defecit by raising taxes and cutting spending.  We would do the same in the current situation.  In fact, if we were to balance the budget solely with property tax increases we would need an increase of 20 cents.!! A truely historic shift in tax burden and a bad deal for our citizens.

Indeed, if the state wants to further enhance it’s standing as a place to do business, they should eliminate the Corporate Income Tax – it’ll only cost them about the same statewide as the local taxes they are now preparing to eliminate.

Now, on to the nitty gritty: Please contact Del. Miller and let him know that he needs to vote in support of our city and our schools.  When you’re done there, please contact Sen. Colgan and ask for his support as well.

I’ll get a copy of the priorities up early next week.