As Virginia’s Fairfax County moves to reduce its heavy reliance on property taxes and diversify its tax sources, including food taxes, there is continued opposition from local food service industries, including Korean restaurants, and some residents.<\/p>\n
According to local media outlets such as ABC7 News, Fairfax County is considering imposing a 6% food tax even though it has already collected a whopping $240 million more in taxes this year than originally planned. According to ABC7 News, the county government is considering imposing a food tax to diversify its tax sources, saying that if it wanted to, it could send $200 checks to every resident, including children.<\/p>\n
Supervisor Walter Alcorn said, \u201c66% of the county\u2019s tax revenue comes from property taxes, which is too high,\u201d and that \u201cwe need to diversify our tax sources,\u201d and it has been reported that the other supervisors, except for Pet Harrity, are in favor of imposing a food tax. Local restaurant businesses, including Korean restaurants, are raising their voices in opposition to the food tax, concerned that the number of consumers who feel the burden of rising dining out costs will decrease due to the county\u2019s move to impose a food tax.<\/p>\n
An official from the Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Association said, \u201cRight now, not only the cost of dining out, but also the cost of operating a restaurant is higher than ever,\u201d and \u201cNow is not a good time to be pushing for a food tax.\u201d The owner of the pizza restaurant \u201cPaisanos,\u201d which employs more than 1,000 people, also said, \u201cI hope they reconsider imposing the food tax and find other sources of revenue.\u201d A resident who identified himself as a restaurant manager in the Reston area expressed his regret, saying, \u201cIt seems like there is no place where taxes are not rising these days, making it harder to live in the county,\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous that they are pushing for it again this time when the food tax was already rejected in two previous referendums.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Alexandria, Falls Church, and Prince William counties already have food taxes in place, and last year, Alexandria earned $31.6 million in tax revenue, Falls Church $5.6 million, and Prince William County $44.9 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"