Taxes the subject of tea-party protests

Angst over taxes and reassessments is spreading.

As Augusta County’s resident reassessment fighter — Churchville lawyer Francis Chester — prepares to pick up the battle in neighboring Page County, others are readying for tax tea parties Wednesday throughout the Shenandoah Valley and across America to protest government spending.

“People think it’s all conservatives, but we’ve got Democrats who are fed up with the government bailing out banks and Wall Street. This is not a Republican-Democrat issue. It’s a milk in my refrigerator issue,” said Ben Marchi, executive director of the Virginia chapter of Americans for Prosperity, an organization that focuses on the free market and transparency in government.

Chester plans to appear at tonight’s tax rate hearing in Page County, where officials have advertised rate increases of 10 cents per $100 of assessed value in real estate taxes and 74 cents in personal property taxes.

On Tax Day the following night, tea-party protesters will gather at Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton and Augusta Expoland in Fishersville.

“These events are what the grassroots are all about,” Marchi said. “They are not pushed by a particular special-interest group.”

The tea party protests got their start with an on-air rant from CNBC editor Rick Santelli earlier this year about the White House agenda, Congress, stimulus spending and pork. Santelli called for a Chicago tea party, and others caught on.

Marchi said Wednesday’s Virginia meetings started with organized events in Richmond, Hampton Roads and Charlottesville.

Lynn Mitchell, an Augusta County Republican Party member, called the timing for citizen involvement “a perfect storm.”

“There are hundreds of jobs lost, an economic downturn and the baby boomers lost money in the stock market,” she said.

Mitchell said the disenchantment is being felt at all levels, from the federal to state to local governments.

“They [citizens] are tired of their hard-earned tax money not being spent responsibly.”

Mitchell was an avid supporter of Chester’s tax fight in Augusta, where he led a petition drive to get reassessments rolled back after The News Virginian reported that average values had spiked by more than a fourth. A lawsuit Chester filed after supervisors denied his demands is pending.

In Page County, Administrator Mark Belton said a potential rate increase is needed on personal property taxes because people are keeping cars longer and not purchasing new vehicles as much.

The real estate rate increase, he said, is needed to pay operating costs for two new Page high schools that will open in the fall.

Chester said he met with business owners last week about the budget, and could be involved in Page through next year’s real estate reassessment.

“The problem is in the increase in taxes and spending money foolishly,” Chester said. “There is a dramatically increased budget for an imporverished community.”

Allen Cubbage, a Page businessman, said the aim is to hold public officials accountable.

“This is the beginning of bringing some credibility and accountability back to the system,” he said. “We need to take steps to balance the budget. We need to figure out less regulation and less spending of money.”