D.C. Council considers commuter tax

The D.C. Council is poised to take up a change to the city charter that would clear the way to impose a commuter tax on most city government workers including teachers and principals, public safety personnel and administrative and blue-collar workers — who do not live in the city, The Washington Times reports.

The measure could present challenges to several D.C. agencies whose ranks are filled with residents of the city's suburbs.

The proposed commuter tax, which the council is likely to take up Wednesday, is expected to generate $70 million. Past suggestions of a commuter tax by city officials have sparked angry protests from surrounding jurisdictions.

D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr. said he is proposing the District Tax Dollars Fairness Act of 2010 because 70 percent of the D.C. government work force lives outside the city's limits. That 70 percent represents earnings of more than $1 billion that it is out of the reach of D.C. tax laws, he said.