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VOLUME 27
An Increasing Boon For Loudoun Towns
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The Meals Tax:
Margaret Morton
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A waitress serves Sunday brunch at Market Table Bistro in Lovettsville, where residents pay a 3 percent meals tax. The tax brings in millions a year in revenue for Loudoun County’s towns.
Cla ssifi e d O pinio n
s Loudoun municipalities begin developing their annual budgets, one levy is providing a booming source of revenue: the meals tax. Anyone heading out for a hamburger and a shake or a more formal three-course dinner should know they are indirectly contributing not just to the bottom line of the eatery in question, but also boosting the revenues of the particular Loudoun town in which they are eating. The hit can add up by the time one totals the town meals tax—which ranges anywhere from 3.5 percent to 5 percent in Loudoun—the 6 percent state sales tax and the server’s tip. But, overall, most restaurateurs and town leaders say they don’t hear too many complaints from customers. The tax is applied to the price of a meal, takeout or prepared food. State law allows cities and towns to adopt meals taxes by resolution of the governing body, but county governments are required to win voter approval at referendum—and relatively few counties have done so. In 2012, the most recent year available from the state auditor of public accounts, the meals tax accounted for 22.2 percent of total tax revenues for large towns, 7 percent for cities and 2 percent for Continued on Page 26
Williams Jumps Into County Chairman’s Contest
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taxes affordable.” Williams was elected to the Broad Run District seat three years ago. He said the current allRepublican board has worked to address residents’ top concerns, including congestion, education and taxes. “When I ran for office in 2011, I heard over and over again from voters that the biggest issue they face is traffic,” Williams wrote. “This board delivered on our promises by adopting an aggresContinued on Page 25
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has grown and prospered into being widely recognized as the number one place to live, work and raise a family in the entire country,” Williams said in a prepared statement. “And after much consideration with my wife, Joy, I’m running for chairman to continue the remarkable work that the board has pioneered over the past three years by concentrating all our efforts on four key areas: more transportation options, building and maintaining world-class schools, stimulating economic development and the commercial tax base, and keeping
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he race for the job of chairman of Loudoun County’s Board of Supervisors got even more interesting this week. Supervisor Shawn M. Williams, who represents the Broad Run District and serves as the board’s vice chairman, announced Monday that he would seek the GOP nomination for county chairman. The move ended almost a
month of speculation about whether an incumbent supervisor would go after the seat in the wake of longtime Chairman Scott K. York’s surprise announcement Jan. 7 that he wouldn’t run for re-election. Williams, a Marine Corps veteran who works as an attorney for Sprint, is now slated to face Leesburg lawyer Charles King for the Republican nod. The winner of that contest would square off with Democrat Phyllis Randall in November. “Under current leadership, Loudoun County
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