Campbell County Meals Tax
By: Kurt Feigel – Chairman
Campbell County Republican Committee
When most families realizes they are taking in less than they are sending out, they must step back and ask “What Now?” This seems to be an impossibility for most government officials. Those that are tasked with representing the people of their district, can quickly forget that and begin to see the people’s money as their own.
It’s happening in D.C. so why not here too? Well for one thing we don’t have a printing press. Campbell county can’t just make more money out of thin air.
So the solution? Well, if you are the majority of the County Supervisors( Pendelton(R), Falwell(R), Goldsmith(R), Puckett(R),Gunter(I), & Shockley(I) ) it is to institute a meals and occupancy tax. Effectively increasing your taxes to 9% when getting that cup of coffee, McDonald’s breakfast, or whatever else you might buy when eating out.
In a recent News and Advance article they stated that:
The funding gap is expected to grow to $7.5 million in fiscal 2013-2014.
The decline in state revenue for public education is going to be so significant,” said County Administrator David Laurrell, “that without a significant source of additional revenue, public education is going to suffer.
There it is folks. The old standby plea “IT’S FOR THE CHILDREN”. The “we need the money” approach was rejected by 75% of the voters, so now that the schools and the state got addicted to federal stimulus money they can’t conceive of cutting programs across the board and certainly not in the schools.
There have been months when our family could barely pay the rent. There was no choice but to STOP SPENDING. We had to cut all the fun out of our budget for a time to make things work. We didn’t get to go to Chic-Fil-A or Starbucks and all trips were canceled. Our solution wasn’t to knock on our neighbors door and put a gun to their head. I could have said to my neighbor “hey it’s for the children” but would that really have mattered? Theft, and certainly armed theft, is still theft.
Make no mistake. If the meals tax is instituted, it will NEVER go away. It will likely increase. Take the City of Lynchburg for example with their 11.5% meals tax, the highest in the nation. It was sold as a plan “for the children” and “for the roads” and what do we hear constantly from the City of Lynchburg? That they need more! Drive around the city and see if they’ve used the money for the roads. Or the schools for that matter.
You are being lied to and you know it!
This is why elections have consequences. It’s a shame that the Eddie Gunter and Steve Shockley, the so called “Independent Conservatives” who left the Republican Party have within only 2 months become tax and spend liberals.
It’s equally shameful that the candidates who still carry the Republican mantle. Who swore to uphold the Republican creed that contains this; “That fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraints must be exercised at all levels of government” Can’t uphold that creed.
I condemn the Campbell County Supervisory board for this latest attempt to fleece the citizens of the county. It won’t be the people “passing through” as they claim. But, will in fact, be all of us paying this bill.
There is a simple solution. It is painful. It is a reality that every family in Campbell County is facing right now. CUT spending!
The next meeting of the BOS is Tuesday February 7, 2012 at 4 P.M. You need to make your voice heard.
Why are you so afraid of democracy? You say you want the people to decide, but when the Board of Supervisors suggest that citizens decide in a referendum if they would rather raise taxes or cut spending you cry foul. You really need to think about why you are so angry. Democracy is all about working together to find solutions for the majority. You should try it sometime.
we do not live in a democracy but a Republic for one thing. And for another you’ve not addressed my points that this absurd tax scheme is outside the realm of decency. WE are made to make cuts every day. Government is not?
Oh and by the way. A couple years back the citizens DID decide and overwhelmingly by 75% said NO! The only way the supervisors can force the issue at the state level is to try to get the votes and fail. They can then take it to Richmond and say “see, the voters are just too stupid, give us the tax” and whamo!
I agree with you that government should live within its means. The problem though is not with our local folks. If you’ve been paying attention they’ve been cutting back and making efficient decisions for a long time. The problem is that our state representatives continue to push additional costs and less money down to the localities to take care of forcing us to pay more at the local level. The so called conservatives in Richmond don’t have the fortitude to cut services they just want somebody else to pay for them. Instead they tell the localities that they have to provide them and pay for it at the local level. This isn’t a question of whether or not we pay for these state required services. It’s a question of how do we pay for them. If you want to get on somebody’s case talk to your state delegation who can’t seem to figure this out, not the folks back home who are being forced to carry the water. They’re in the same boat you are. Better yet we really need to get rid of them and put somebody in Richmond who is really interested in cutting state services and entitlements not just people who want to pass it along to somebody else to pay for it.
I don’t agree with your point about the citizens already voted no on a meals tax. That’s like saying because someone who wasn’t a republican won the last supervisor election that you should never be able to run a republican again. They already said no to the Campbell County republican party several times over the past year. Using your logic no republican should ever run again for a local office. Things change, people need to evaluate the situation on today’s issues, not something that happened over fifteen years ago.
Almost forgot. You’re absolutely correct about us living in a republic. You can’t have it both ways though. If you believe in the operation of republic you would support the elected leaders making those kinds of decisions. They were elected to office by a majority of those voting to represent them. That’s how a republic works. On the other hand you complain that they want to get input from the public by a referendum to see what the public wants to do. Which way is it? Or, is it just that it has to be your way. You don’t like it so they shouldn’t do it?
Those that left the party because they couldn’t get the nomination as a Republican candidate (Shockley and Gunter) ran as “conservatives”. The only reason they don’t stick us with the taxes right off is they legally can’t. The people of Campbell County don’t want to pay more in taxes, so this time it gets trotted out with the “it’s for the children” defense. Hopefully the citizens can see through this smoke screen.
“If you believe in the operation of republic you would support the elected leaders making those kinds of decisions.”
IF the elected leaders decided to raise our property taxes 3 fold I should support that nonsense?
And they are not our “leaders” they are our “representatives” and they serve at our pleasure not their own. It is WE THE PEOPLE not We The Supervisors.
You are right. The state reps are sticking the county government with unfunded mandates. It doesn’t change the fact that the residents of the county are stretched thin and don’t have any more to give. I hope the residents see what the supervisors are up to.
You are right that they are our representatives and it’s WE THE PEOPLE. WE THE PEOPLE spoke in the November elections. Apparently you and the local Republican unit don’t represent the majority of people in Campbell County. If you did your candidates would have won. Not only didn’t they win, they lost by staggering margins in some cases.
Don’t be disheartened by this. I think many of the people in Campbell County have the same conservative values that you do. Including the board of supervisors members. The difference is they are trying to find solutions to the problems and provide leadership. Yes, they are our political leaders. We elected them to be our leaders.
All of the politics aside (most of what we’ve been bantering about is politics right?) what do you recommend to the board of supervisors cut in spending to close what I read is a seven plus million dollar budget gap? I understand you believe they shouldn’t consider raising taxes. I don’t want to pay taxes either. Where should they reduce expenses to cover the mandates and declining revenues from the state?
Mr Fiegle, why do you always seem to know what my intent is? Have you EVER asked me? How many public hearings have you attended? How many calls or emails have you made to your Supervisor?
You are right, 15 years ago the citizens soundly rejected a meals tax in a referendum (not “a couple of years ago”) I would hope you realize that times have changed. With your “logic” however, since in 2010 and 2011, the citizens soundly rejected local Republican candidates, I assume you won’t support any Republican candidates in future elections. I mean, they were already REJECTED.
You are so full of hate and bile, that you can not begin to have a logical discussion. It will be interesting to see how long my comments stay posted. Rick Boyer just deletes comments from Facebook that don’t agree with his narrow world view.
One more point Mr. F, I left the “party” because I discovered, quite by accident, that the “party” was secretly running someone against me! The “party” wasn’t “man enough” to come to me directly…no it was done so that I wasn’t to find out until it was too late. Once I determined I didn’t have the support of the “party” I left.
9% on a cup of coffee? wow. how’d you get THAT number?
It is truly shocking that you are asking me this question. You run and claim you are a conservative? You run and say you won’t raise taxes? now you don’t even know how they work?
5% Sales tax (4% state + 1% local) added to the 4% meals tax you want to impose = 9%.
Coffee at Starbucks is a “served” item subject to the meals tax. The happy meal I’d buy my kids is also a served item subject to the meals tax.
Hey Jack Read: this is the kind of “leader” I should just roll over and listen to and accept? He doesn’t even know the consequences nor the method by which the very taxes he is supporting work.
I’m not going to throw the party’s candidate under the bus. You ran a campaign. Ours didn’t. I congratulated you on your win. Don’t take that as a mandate for your stupid tax increases or your big spending ideas.
The first inclination of government is always to raise taxes, and to let someone else do the heavy lifting like having Laurell throw out the old tired liberal mantra’it’s for the children’.Public education is the one of the two sacred cows of liberalism, the other being abortion, that is always used to shame us into giving the government more of our money and freedom. The same people pushing this tax increase campaigned against such a tax increase in order to get elected, and you see how, as always, it was another lie in order to deceive conservative constituents. As for a “secret” campaign, I’m not sure when Mr. Shockley became the arbiter of who can and can’t run for office, or has to, or doesn’t have to tell who about what. He didn’t come to his constituents, I notice, to man-up, and tell them he was going to go back on his campaign word against a meals tax increase. As always, they have one standard for us, and any one of a number of different standards for themselves, depending on their political needs of the time. It is also interesting that it is the “independent conservatives”, who claim they were run out of the party by conservatives., who are pushing tax increase, and who refuse to actively pursue spending cuts, not the Republican Party of Campbell county which has consistently called for lower taxes and less spending. a novel idea, I know.
And what’s up with this Steve? Source: http://reelectshockley.weebly.com/faq.html
Q: Did you vote to institute a “meals tax” in Campbell County?
A: No! As proof that this is going to be a difficult election, some are already making false and misleading claims against me and the other supervisors. For example, some have claimed that we want to institute a meals tax in the county. Nothing could be further from the truth. In June of every year, the board adopts a legislative agenda which is a list of recommendations we forward to our Delegate and Senators. One of the items in this past year’s list was a request for counties to be treated the same as cities and towns when it comes to initiating a meals or occupancy tax. This was done at the request of the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo), which is an organization most counties belong to and we strongly support. Counties in Virginia cooperate with one another on a large number of issues. Under Virginia’s Dillon Rule, the General Assembly would have to grant counties permission to seek a meals tax on an individual basis as about seven counties already have. In Campbell County, a meals tax is about as popular as the spreading of biosolids. Prior to me coming on the Board, a meals tax appeared as a referendum item during an election. The idea was soundly defeated! And, while the economic climate has changed, I can say that there is currently no serious thought being given to such a tax even though some are accusing us of it. Even if counties were given permission, they would still have to go through the public hearing process. I don’t think any member of the board would want to be on the receiving end of a meals tax public hearing.
Q: What about an “occupancy tax”?
A: Again no. While an occupancy tax is a true “consumption tax” which is supported by many conservatives (I personally support the Fair Tax Plan for the Federal Government (check out http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer), Campbell County currently has very few hotel/motel rooms. Any revenue from an occupancy tax would be small. However, once again this was on our list of items submitted to our Delegates and Senators. Why? Because at this time only a few counties in the Commonwealth have been granted permission to levy an occupancy tax. The Virginia Association of Counties is seeking the legislature to provide equality in all counties in regard to an occupancy tax.