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The Cranky Taxpayer |
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High Taxes |
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The Commission on Local Government publishes a ranking of localities by "revenue effort." As defined by the Commission (pdf at 12):
In short, "revenue effort" measures how hard the locality is working its citizens for revenue, relative to the statewide average. We have the data for 2008-09. Richmond is fifteenth from the highest of the 134 localities at 1.40. That is, Richmond is working its citizens for revenue 40% harder than the Virginia average. The graph here shows revenue effort, with the localities ranked high to low; Richmond is the gold bar; the red bars (from the left) are Newport News, Norfolk, and Hampton:
We have the entire data set here. Follow this link for a breakdown of where the taxes come from and where they go. Unfortunately, the payback for the high taxes we pay is high crime and lousy schools and a public housing agency that harbors crime. |
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Last updated
04/01/12 |