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Fairfax County will be facing increased taxes in the coming year. Thanks to a 7-3 party line vote on the budget during yesterday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. Residents will be paying more in car taxes, as the decal fee is back, and an increased sewer tax. This will bring $11.7 million back to the county, but it will definitely place more economic strain on residents. The funds received from the car tax increase will not go to transportation improvements, rather it will go back into the general fund.

Braddock Supervisor John Cook stated it quite eloquently when he said, “The only way a homeowner pays less in this budget is if [they] don’t own a car and [they] don’t flush [their] toilet.”

Aside from the bad news, there was something strange going on prior to the start of the session though. Chairwoman Sharon Bulova decided to open the session with story time. As you can see in this video (fast forward to the 5:10 mark for the story), story time should make all of us feel good about tax increases, right? Wrong. Despite the fact that Fairfax County is one of the most expensive places in the country to live, tax increases only add to the frustrations of those in the area, especially when they find out that unnecessary programs were not sent to the chopping block before considering such a plan.

Perhaps, Chairwoman Bulova and her fellow Democrats on the Board of Supervisors should read the new story, “Welcome to Fairfax County: The Nightmares Caused by Increased Taxes.” I think the best line from this story is the lost revenue caused by residents fed up and moving to counties with lower taxes.