Taxing the outsiders is wrong

by Davon Gray, 31 May 2010 -- Hopefully this next story will not apply to you, but if it does, you won't be happy.

If you live in Northern Virginia but work for the D.C. government, The Washington, D.C., city council wants to feed on your salary to satisfy its appetite for more revenue.  In other words they want you to pay a special tax—or should we say a commuter tax.

Members of the D.C. council claim they are not trying to create a commuter tax but do say the city is losing out on $105 million per year in lost taxes from people who work in the district but live outside the city.  What they need that money for, who knows, and they aren't really telling.

Collecting funds from district employees living outside the city would raise up to $70 million of that $105 million they are missing out on.

The only thing stopping all of this from becoming a reality is the Congress.  Yes that institution that most Americans seem to have lost confidence in.  Congress has to approve the measure if the city council votes in favor, which is a good reason to bring this up during the upcoming congressional campaign. If Congress holds the key to common sense on this, we need to make sure the members of Congress understand this is a raw deal. Therefore we especially need to know where the members of Congress representing Northern Virginia stand on the issue. I usually am not too into the whole anti-tax thing.  Like I have said in the past, I believe in the words of Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes who said, "Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society."  But if I may be so bold, I would like to add a comment to Mr. Holmes' words:  Excessive taxation is what we pay for poor governing. I don't know what the district does with all the revenue it receives, but one thing is for sure, it doesn't need more of ours to do it.  In the past we've heard stories of excessive salaries of city government officials, and hints of poor management and corruption in the school district.  If that sounds a little harsh, I need only remind you of the infamous D.C. Control Board that took over the city's finances.

Hopefully the current administration is doing everything they can to improve on some of the failures of the past, but regardless they don't need our money.

Besides, the district does get money from us here in Northern Virginia.  Every time one of us goes downtown and eats at a restaurant or goes to see a professional sports event, they get dollars from Virginia and Maryland.

To create a special tax for people living outside of the city would be double taxation. Or here's one for you, it would be taxation without representation.

There seems to be a lot of that going on these days.  Not only is the D.C. City Council trying to create an excuse for taxes, but so is the Metro board. They are considering their annual — we need more money to improve safety and maintenance — fair increase.

Now I know the district is cashed strapped. So is every other community around the country.  Here in Virginia we are looking at cuts to the basics like school teachers.  In some parts of the country, school districts are actually considering a four day school week. The point is everyone's hurting. It's unfair, and quite frankly, dictatorial, for the D. C. City Council to put undue burdens on Virginians and Marylanders simply because they are employed by the D.C. government but want a less hectic life in the suburbs.

All that is left to ask is what's next? Pretty soon they will be trying to put extra taxes on soda beverages to help pay for things. Oops, too late, they're already working on that as well.