Eat Out In Loudoun To Help Pay For Schools?

Eat out in Loudoun County in order to help pay for schools? Sounds odd, doesn’t it… Well, that’s what Loudoun is proposing – a 4 percent meal tax on "prepared meals" that will go directly to Loudoun County public schools.

Loudoun County officials are even saying that the money generated from the meal tax could replace property taxes. (Do Loudoun residents really eat out that much?!)

The referendum will be on the ballot in November so you have plenty of time to chew on it before voting on it.

Source: NBC4.com

Update #2 To Grantor’s Tax Refunds

This just in from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) regarding Grantor’s Tax (Congestion Relief Tax) refunds:

"Some news media outlets are reporting that it will take “three years to refund monies” collected by NVTA.

This is INCORRECT and a misinterpretation of the memo posted on the NVTA web site.

While it may be challenging to track down SOME taxpayers, it can be done and will be done within a few months.

For those rare cases when we will not be able to track a taxpayer down, the law requires that any UNCLAIMED monies be held in trust for up to three years and if unclaimed will, by law, revert to Virginia’s Literacy Fund. 

It will NOT take three years to refund this money. Taxpayers have up to three years to claim monies if they are not automatically refunded.

Please adjust your reports immediately.  Reporting inaccurate information is unnecessarily upsetting residents and taxpayers. 

We continue to ask that taxpayers be patient, hold onto their receipts and wait for further instructions which will come soon."

Related Articles:

NVTA To Stop Collecting Grantor’s Tax and Fees Effective Immediately

Update To Grantor’s Tax Refunds

Official Press Release From NVTA Regarding Today’s Court Ruling

Grantor’s Tax Update – Court Rules NVTA Taxing Powers Unconstitutional

NVTA To Stop Collecting Grantor’s Tax and Fees Effective Immediately

The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) just announced this morning that they will no longer be collecting taxes and fees, including the higher Grantor’s Tax, effective immediately. They are instructing people not to contact the NVTA for refunds at this time. Once they have the refund process and staff in place, they will announce the procedures at that time.

Whether this means that the clerks of the courts will stop collecting them is another story. As of yesterday, they were not told by the Attorney General to stop collecting the higher Grantor’s Tax from sellers and were continuing to do so. And there is still a 10 day appeal process available to the NVTA.

UPDATE: In light of this decision, Loudoun County’s Clerk of the Court will no longer collect the regional transportation grantor’s tax effective today, March 4, 2008. The Clerk’s office is awaiting a response from the NVTA regarding the announcement of refund procedures for grantors taxes collected since January 1st, 2008.

Here is the official press release from the NVTA:

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