Dear Mr. Fasolo:
Good questions. The revenue generated by the Personal Property Tax within the Town of Leesburg goes into the General Fund, where it pays for police protection, storm drainage projects, road construction and maintenance, parks, sidewalks, trails, leaf and brush pickup, trash and recycling collection, business outreach, planning and zoning, etc. -- just about every Town function. The reason why town citizens throughout the Commonwealth pay taxes to both the towns and counties they reside in is due to the way the state structures its governmental entities. Local governments are not given the authority to change their tax structures or their forms of government without permission from the General Assembly. The way to do away with double taxation is to persuade the General Assembly to allow the Town to become a city, where residents only pay one level of taxes (to the city) rather than two (to the county and the town). At present, the General Assembly is not permitting the Town to seek city status. If the town were granted city status, the newly formed city would be required to assume responsibility for schools, courts, and social services. To some, that seems extremely expensive; to others, who look at many Virginia cities' ability to contract out these services to exisitng County staff, the solution looks like it could save taxpayers money.