Board of Supervisors to hold a hearing on a proposed meals tax
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors agreed on March 18 to authorize a public hearing on a meals tax.
The hearing, scheduled for April 22, would consider an amendment to the Fairfax County Code to impose a food and beverage tax of up to 4 percent on meals sold by restaurants and caterers.
If the tax is approved by the Board of Supervisors, it would take effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
Also on March 18, the board authorized the advertisement of a 1.5-cent increase in the property tax rate, for a total of $1.14 per $100 of assessed value. Real estate assessments, meanwhile, are up an average of average of 6.65 percent.
The county estimates a 4 percent tax would generate $67.9 million. The cost to implement the tax would be about $2.8 million.
Related story: Supervisors consider a meals tax
“The implementation of a food and beverage tax would enable the county to better align its tax base with surrounding jurisdictions and would generate a significant portion of revenue from non-county residents,” states a description of the proposal by county staff.
Arlington County, Prince William County, the City of Fairfax, and the City of Falls Church have a 4 percent meals tax. The City of Alexandria’s is 5 percent. The meals tax is 3.75 percent in the Town of Herndon and 3 percent in the Town of Vienna.
According to county staff, “A food and beverage tax would provide an opportunity to diversify the tax base and moderate the impact of the increasing share of the tax burden on homeowners.” Approximately 34 percent of expenditures on meals are generated by commuters and out-of-county visitors.
“While taxes on unprepared food items are generally considered to be regressive since lower-income households tend to spend larger fractions of their incomes on necessities such as food and clothing, restaurant meals are not considered necessities,” the proposal states. “Higher-income households tend to spend a larger share of their food budget on eating out.”
Related story: Fairfax County executive proposes a lean budget for FY 2026
The food and beverage tax would not apply to items sold through vending machines; prepackaged items; eligible fundraisers; or food and beverages sold by volunteer fire departments, nonprofit religious facilities, schools, hospitals, or nursing homes.
The proposed amendment would allow a discount of up to 3 percent for restaurants to offset their administrative costs for the first two years. “The dealer discount would compensate sellers for the technology and record-keeping costs of collecting the food and beverage tax.”
If the tax is approved, the county would provide technical assistance to business owners and would translate information about the tax into multiple languages.
23 responses to “Board of Supervisors to hold a hearing on a proposed meals tax”
Leave a Reply to Ffx Co Taxpayer Cancel reply
The BoS is going to do this. This is just a step that they do to try to make us think that they are listening to us. No one wants this meal tax except our BoS with an insatiable desire to spend our tax money. No matter how much property taxes rise, it is never enough for their “budgets”. They always have a shortfall in their dream budgets. If they cut anything in the budget, it is meant to cause residents the most grief. They will do a 4% tax and tell us that they took the smaller option. Vote these people out.
Didn’t the people of Fairfax County vote against a meals tax in 2016? What part of “No” does the BOS not understand?
Times change. It is easy to rail against a tax, but let’s hear what services you are willing to give up. Our excellent schools are not as well supported as neighboring areas and it is getting harder and harder to recruit good teachers. I will vote YES.
Defund all public schools. They are Marxist indoctrination centers and money laundering programs for illegal aliens.
Well, at least you’re concise.
Now please head over to 4chan or truth social to share this with your fascist and conspiracy-loving buddies in those echo chambers. They’ll better appreciate your nuanced position and compelling argument, expressed in such a measured tone.
I assume this is a “joke”?
You don’t get a vote. None of us do. This is being done to us not with us. That’s why they are “advertising” the tax increase. But to answer your question, our schools have been declining for years, as is evident by the exodus to private schools. I actually listened into my kids classes during COVID – what a joke! Want to get better teachers? Focus on education rather than indoctrination.
Manage better and smarter! Downsize where feasible. There’s no reason to increase funding for capital projects, affordable housing, and human services faster than the economy can absorb it. We’re already paying 7-10% more year over year in property taxes, which is more than inflation and more than I’m increasing my wages.
Restaurants should file a class action lawsuit against BoS. Margins for restaurants are thin to begin with, inflation is crushing restaurants and customers, thousands of local government employees lost their jobs —meanwhile, BoS is busy commissioning art, building covid memorials, changing street signs, and bowing to developers while ignoring horrible roads, unacceptable crime, that public schools that are severely overcrowded. These fools all need to go. Maybe they can try to enter today’s job market and see if they can match the huge salary they recently gave themselves.
Either show show proof of indoctrination and money laundering programs for illegals or shut up with the lies.
A lawsuit wouldn’t work, and our county is full of “believers” voters who are feel that the solution to all our problems is bigger Government and more public-school indoctrination of future generations. What every government needs is a DOGE. Surely the County government can find efficiencies or ill spent money. Let’s begin by finding those.
Glad to hear that the Board of Supervisors will be taking this step. Let folks who visit Fairfax County help pay for County services – schools, libraries, and other essentials – not just through property taxes.
Sounds like there are some well-thought through steps to help businesses make the transition too – I’m glad to see that.
I find it laughable that you think that fairfax county is a tourist destination .
I would be happy to be proved wrong But I suspect that most diners at Fairfax County restaurants are people who live in fairfax county
@SL is correct. The FY25 Ffx Co budget shows that over 88% of county revenue comes from RE and Personal Property taxes. That’s right – coming from taxation on ASSETS rather than income. This is regressive AF. The meals tax at least gets closer to placing the tax burden on the folks who can afford it – if you can pay for a $50 dinner, you’ll likely not notice or care about an extra two bucks appended to your bill. The criminal part of all this is that the Commonwealth of VA so severely restricts counties’ revenue sources, then re-distributes what income they derive from Fairfax County disproportionately to poorer counties throughout the state. What a scam.
@john b – also paying the meals tax would be our adjoining neighbors from Loudoun, Arlington, the City of Falls Church, Leesburg, an so forth, who dine at Fairfax County restaurants. Currently, Fairfax County residents pay their meals taxes, as applicable. I find it laughable that you believe @SL was referring to tourists.
The meals tax is the most regressive of all. Families, like mine, who frequently need to eat at a restaurant so that they can feed their kids while balancing multiple jobs so that we can afford to live in the county are the ones most in need of a tax-cut, not a tax hike!
What total nonsense. Only an out-of-touch arrogant ignorant elite liberal or a country club Republican would have the never to claim that taxing assets is regressive. That is stupid AF.
You are correct John! This article states that: “Approximately 34 percent of expenditures on meals are generated by commuters and out-of-county visitors.”
This would mean that approximately 66% (2/3rds) are Fairfax County residents.
I think that many Fairfax County voters have to tell themselves sweet little lies so they can keep on voting for the status quo.
How soon before Fairfax County gets its own Casino to further diversify our Board of Supervisors’ tax revenue?
We need a more diverse tax base to support county services and maintain high-quality schools. Continued reliance on property taxes drives up the cost of housing – and it’s still not enough to cover what’s needed for the services and education we all demand. The Dillon Rule and structure of the Commonwealth dramatically limit local governments’ ability to raise funds – and we all know that $0.85 on every $1 of VA income tax collected in Fairfax County is used to fund services and schools elsewhere in VA. Restaurants pass on taxes to patrons; their own menu prices dictate margins and individuals’ decisions to purchase (or not.) People do travel to Fairfax County, including for business and entertainment events. Many residents travel to neighboring counties and cities/towns of Herndon, Vienna, Falls Church, Fairfax, and Alexandria for a bite to eat. Why not align Fairfax County tax structures with that of our neighbors? Better yet, get the data about the real impacts of meals’ tax implementation on the economies and residents of neighboring counties, towns, and cities. Facts first, folks.
Ridiculous. I will vote no for a meals tax
The chance to “vote” no on a meals tax has come and gone, at least on this version of it. You can attend your Supervisor’s Budget Town Hall or testify at upcoming BoS budget hearings to register your opinion on it, but there isn’t any more voting to be done by you or I before the BoS either approves or disapproves the meals tax for FY2026.
On this point @Ffx Co Taxpayer is right. We don’t get to vote. The county lost twice so they changed the rules. I hope everyone who voted against the meals tax the last two times shows up to vote these usurpers out of office.
Won’t happen. Fairfax County is California East, New York South. It’s the rest of Virginia that prevents Fairfax from becoming a Liberal Utopia.
The LAST thing Fairfax needs are higher taxes! I have usually not complained about paying taxes, but things are getting out of hand in Fairfax. Assessments have already gone up extensively in the last few years – which does residents no good if they are not selling their homes. Eating out has become more expensive, and we avoid Falls Church because of the extra tax. If Fairfax succumbs to higher taxes, we will just eat out even less here.
The Supervisors are elected to make hard decisions, and it’s time they CUT rather that expanded the budget – and don’t claim everything is necessary, everyone knows that’s not true. Or, prepare to be thrown out of office.
Yeah Norm, except Democrats are not going to be thrown out of office in Fairfax County regardless of what they do. Which is why you can expect the Meal Tax to be instituted in Fairfax County.