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By SHARON KILPATRICK
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
Neither of Rappahannock's representatives in the General Assembly is prepared to support the call of Sen. Charles J. Colgan, D-Prince William, to eliminate the personal property tax on automobiles and replace it with a higher sales tax.
The personal property tax is a local tax. Both the tax rate and the method for assessing the value of motor vehicles vary from locality to locality.
In Rappahannock the personal property tax rate has been $3.10 per hundred for the past two years. Commissioner of Revenue Beverly Atkins assesses that on the loan value of the automobile.
Twenty cents of the personal property tax rate is for the fire levy; the rest goes into the general fund. The personal property tax brings in a little more than $1 million according to Treasurer Frances Foster.
Apparently Sen. Colgan is considering allowing the localities to assess an additional one and a half cents, sales tax to replace the personal property tax. The current one percent local sales tax brings in about $200,000 per year, Mrs. Foster said, so one and a half percent would bring in about $300,000, significantly less than the personal property tax.
Statewide personal property taxes bring in about $1 billion, and an additional 1.5 percent sales tax would bring in about $800,000.
Republican Sen. Kevin Miller, whose 26th District seat includes Rappahannock County, noted that the sales tax would not replace the revenue localities would lose without the personal property tax, especially in areas like Rappahannock County which do
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