Fairfax County board passes 5-cent tax on plastic shopping bags
InsideNoVa Staff
9/16/2021
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors this week voted 9-1 to approve a 5-cent tax on plastic bags at grocery stores, convenience stores and drugstores.
The tax will go into effect Jan. 1, 2022.
Supervisor Pat Herrity of the Springfield district cast the only dissenting vote.
The Virginia General Assembly approved legislation in 2020 allowing localities to impose a 5-cent tax on disposable plastic bags at grocery, convenience and drug stores, with some exceptions.
The state code requires retailers to collect the tax proceeds in a similar manner to sales and meals taxes. Through Dec. 31, 2022, retailers can keep 2 cents from the tax collected on each bag, with the retailers’ share dropping to 1 cent starting Jan. 1, 2023.
Revenues from such taxes must be for specific activities like environmental cleanup, pollution mitigation and providing reusable bags to people on federal food support programs, according to a staff report to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors prepared by Fairfax County Executive Bryan Hill.
The Virginia Department of Taxation created a fiscal impact statement with the legislation that said the tax could generate between $20.8 million and $24.9 million in revenue statewide based on similar taxes in Montgomery County, Md., and Washington, D.C.
Hill’s report said that Montgomery County, which has about 1 million residents, received about $2.61 million in revenue in 2017. Hill’s report noted that the revenue would decline over time as customers start using reusable bags, although it will take several years.
He wrote that it would be difficult to estimate potential revenues because Virginia’s legislation applies only to certain retailers while Montgomery County’s applies to virtually all and doesn’t have certain exemptions.
Earlier this year, Prince William County supervisors began drafting a similar plastic bag tax but decided to wait until after the fiscal 2022 budget was passed.
Fairfax County, Vienna Real Estate Taxes Over Last 40 Years
By David Swink
7/10/2021
This FCTA board member has lived in the same southwest Vienna rambler since Dec 1975 — with no improvements made which would alter its accessed value for tax purposes. So my home can serve as a baseline for judging the actual growth of real estate taxes in both Fairfax County and Town of Vienna for the period from 1976 onward.
We’re all familiar with FCTA’s graph of Fairfax County real estate tax increases since FY2000. But here is raw data going back another 25 years — in actual dollars (not noting inflation).
A column is provided showing the County real estate tax percent increase from the previous year. Another column shows Vienna’s real estate tax as a percentage of the county’s, to see if Vienna’s numbers track with those of the county. So what does one notice? Even without a graph, one can deduce the following:
- Both Fairfax County and Vienna taxes “took off” after year 2000, leveled during the Great Recession, and are now back on full throttle.
- The Vienna percentage is fairly consistently in the low-to-mid 20’s, and thus seems more tied to county increases than to actual need.
- Oddly, the raw tax increase (not adjusted for inflation) from 1976 to 2013 is precisely a factor of 6.18 for both the county and Vienna.
BOS Chairman Year Fx Co Tax Yr-Yr Vienna Tax Vn/Fx
Jack Herrity-R 1976 $821.72 - $170.01 20.69%
" 1977 $857.91 +4.44% $177.50 20.69%
" 1978 $872.97 +1.76% $175.66 20.12%
" 1979 $884.27 +1.29% $178.00 20.13%
" 1980 $980.98 +10.94% $197.47 20.13%
" 1981 $1077.23 +9.81% $235.42 21.85%
" 1982 $1164.02 +8.06% $261.31 22.45%
" 1983 $1164.02 0 $261.31 22.45%
" 1984 $1217.13 +4.56% $275.10 22.60%
" 1985 $1216.67 -0.04% $288.85 23.74%
" 1986 $1232.69 +1.32% $292.19 23.70%
" 1987 $1354.12 +9.85% $318.01 23.48%
Audrey Moore-D 1988 $1554.41 +14.79% $358.71 23.08%
" 1989 $1752.93 +14.79% $412.45 23.53%
" 1990 $1913.03 +9.13% $482.57 25.23%
" 1991 $1779.11 -7.00% $464.81 26.13%
Tom Davis-R 1992 $1826.46 +2.66% $471.23 25.80%
" 1993 $1824.27 -0.12% $471.23 25.83%
" 1994 $1824.27 0 $471.23 25.83%
Kate Hanley-D 1995 $1886.98 +3.44% $487.43 25.80%
" 1996 $2000.07 +5.99% $487.43 24.37%
" 1997 $1998.44 -0.08% $503.67 25.20%
" 1998 $1998.44 0 $503.67 25.20%
" 1999 $1998.44 0 $503.67 25.20%
" 2000 $2123.17 +6.24% $534.67 25.18%
" 2001 $2441.63 +15.00% $595.04 24.37%
" 2002 $2955.38 +21.04% $695.52 23.53%
" 2003 $3185.20 +7.78% $754.46 23.69%
Gerry Connolly-D 2004 $3413.19 +7.16% $799.73 23.43%
" 2005 $3753.75 +9.98% $825.00 21.98%
" 2006 $4281.44 +14.07% $894.73 20.90%
" 2007 $4281.44 0 $959.12 22.40%
" 2008 $4425.59 +3.37% $1004.77 22.70%
Sharon Bulova-D 2009 $4396.65 -0.65% $958.76 21.81%
" 2010 $4294.60 -2.32% $950.56 22.13%
" 2011 $4690.11 +9.21% $1045.56 22.29%
" 2012 $4658.44 -0.68% $1029.02 22.09%
" 2013 $5080.52 +9.06% $1051.02 20.69%
" 2014 $5547.46 +9.19% $1139.88 20.55%
" 2015 $5783.11 +4.25% $1165.95 20.16%
" 2016 $6243.39 +7.96% $1212.57 19.42%
" 2017 $6422.76 +2.87% $1244.72 19.38%
" 2018 $6837.56 +6.46% $1299.92 19.01%
" 2019 $6984.07 +2.14% $1327.77 19.01%
Jeff McKay-D 2020 $7159.35 +2.51% $1361.09 19.01%
" 2021 $7452.66 +4.10% $1413.05 18.96%
Numbers for future years will be added to the table as they become available. Also, information such as the political make-up of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for each period may be added. Enjoy.
— David Swink, FCTA board member / Updated 2021-07-10
