Dan Genz, The Examiner
2008-03-05 08:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

WASHINGTON -

The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority is preparing to refund the millions of dollars of unconstitutional taxes it has collected since Jan. 1 and has halted tax collections.

“We have gotten the word out to all folks who have been collecting the taxes. That’s been done,” NVTA Chairman Chris Zimmerman said Tuesday. “We have people working on the next question: What to do with the refunds.”

The agency advised taxpayers who rented, repaired, bought or registered cars, as well as anyone who stayed in a hotel room or sold a house to hold onto their receipts and documents to prepare for the coming rebates.

“We know we’re going to be refunding the money. That’s a given,” Del. Margi Vanderhye, D-Fairfax and a former NVTA member, told The Examiner. “Now we’re trying to make it work.”

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled the taxes “null and void” in a lawsuit brought by critics including Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William, and the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. The lawsuit challenged the taxes set to raise at least $300 million annually because they were approved by an unelected body of local lawmakers and appointees.

“Give the money back these guys stole,” Marshall said, calling on the authority to issue refunds without taxpayers collecting any data. “Don’t make taxpayers do the work for you.”

NVTA members are set to discuss the varied procedures required to distribute refunds at a special meeting Thursday.

Without that money, Zimmerman and other officials said the state and region are risking their status as a powerful economic engine, unless Virginia lawmakers can quickly ratify a new, constitutional tax policy.

“They have no business coming home until they fix this mess,” Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart said.

Although the NVTA could decide Thursday to ask the state’s highest court to reconsider its unanimous decision, Zimmerman said such a motion is unlikely.

Del. David Bulova, D-Fairfax, said the General Assembly members “owe it to the commonwealth” to fix the mistake soon, adding, “The Supreme Court didn’t invalidate the transportation deficiencies.”

dgenz@dcexaminer.com