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Tax
From Page A1
could live without cigarette and tax hikes.
The Republican controlled House of Delegates is a minefield for tax proponents.
In five terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, Louderback, 57, has made himself a tax expert and a leading critic of waste and disorganization in Virginia’s government. In his first year, he formed a group called the “Cost Cutting Caucus,” beginning with four delegates who met in his office to discuss ways to trim the cost of the Virginia government. Now the caucus has 30 members.
From those years and service on several legislative tax commissions, Louderback has formed a tax proposal that effectively brings a new whole range of transactions under Virginia’s tax laws. He would reduce the state’s sales tax from 4.5 percent to four percent, but extend the sales tax to the service industry.
“We should keep in mind,” Louderback said in an interview this week, “that they are not being taxed, they are being asked to collect a tax.” Louderback said the state tax officials could not estimate how many businesses would be effected, but he claims the service industry is “an everincreasing share of Virginia’s economic pie.”
Louderback argues that there are enormous incongruities caused by this industry not being taxed. “If I buy fertilizer at the hardware store, sales tax is collected,” he wrote in a recent article. “If I contract with a maintenance company to fertilize the lawn, no sales tax is collected.” Presumably one major tax source will be Internet services, but Louderback said he has withheld those from his plan while the U. S. Congress and the industry try to work out a
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