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Charitable bingo and raffle games could be returned to local governments if the 7-month-old commission were abolished. But many lawmakers are wary of doing this since the legislature established the seven-member commission after a two-year study found some game operators skimming profits and inflating rents charged to charitable organizations.
Figures presented to the legislators were that more than 2,000 organizations sponsoring bingo collect some $250 million a year.
Fingerprints for Gun Permit a Possibility
A bill requiring localities to check fingerprints of applicants seeking a concealed-weapons permit sailed through the Senate 27-10.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation had told Gov. George Allen that it would not make its fingerprint records available unless the state required fingerprint checks, so senators said they had little choice.
Sen. Joseph V. Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax, sponsor of the bill, said some localities already are requiring fingerprints, while other are not.
Property Tax Reduction Dead for This Year
A measure to reduce the personal property tax has been killed at least for this General Assembly session. Instead, Sen. Charles J. Colgan, D-Manassas, has proposed that a study commission be formed to examine the matter.
"This will wipe the frown off the faces of the localities," he said.
While reducing the property tax is a popular idea, the problem of equitably replacing equitable revenues ultimately mixed the concept. Colgan said counties receive 15.6 percent of their revenue from the tax, while cities gamer 13 percent and towns 5 percent.
Even though a 1-and-a-half-cent increase in the state sales tax was proposed to cover reduction in property tax revenue, Sen. Kevin G. Miller, R-Harrisonburg, said distributing the extra money from the sales tax would be unfair because of the differing property tax rates across the state.
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