![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
acroyearFor all the media attention that the "Northern Virginia Road Tax" vote got 2 years ago, I'm surprised that the raise in the Virginia Sales Tax to 5% has managed to get through so silently. I had absolutely no idea it was going to happen until WTOP mentioned it as a one-liner this morning between stories of a Maryland politician and the DC school that's still closed.
In fact, they emphasized the tax increase on cigarettes (a negligable 2.5 cents per pack) as if it was FAR more important than the overall sales tax rate, even though cig sales only affect 1/5th of the population.
16 million people affected by something they probably wouldn't have supported and all it warrents is one line? Hell, even the 'Post doesn't think it warrents a front-page of Metro. Searching their site, the only mention is a VA specific section, on Page *4* at that, titled "As Taxes Increase, Seeing More Shrugs Than Hot Collars".
*sigh*
how did people get so apathetic about their own money?
This is not to say that I don't think the increase will help, both the state's budgets and in calculating it (5% is always easier to deal with than 4.5%), and in fact during the 90s I thought it was a good idea in and of itself.
I just wonder why, when it did happen, it happened so silently?
In fact, they emphasized the tax increase on cigarettes (a negligable 2.5 cents per pack) as if it was FAR more important than the overall sales tax rate, even though cig sales only affect 1/5th of the population.
16 million people affected by something they probably wouldn't have supported and all it warrents is one line? Hell, even the 'Post doesn't think it warrents a front-page of Metro. Searching their site, the only mention is a VA specific section, on Page *4* at that, titled "As Taxes Increase, Seeing More Shrugs Than Hot Collars".
*sigh*
how did people get so apathetic about their own money?
This is not to say that I don't think the increase will help, both the state's budgets and in calculating it (5% is always easier to deal with than 4.5%), and in fact during the 90s I thought it was a good idea in and of itself.
I just wonder why, when it did happen, it happened so silently?
