ROANOKE, Va. – A controversial bill in the Virginia legislature that would expand sales tax to numerous everyday services while eliminating taxes on groceries has been postponed for consideration until next year.
House Bill 978, which came out of subcommittee early this afternoon, would extend Virginia’s sales and use tax to a wide range of services, including:
- Gym memberships
- Dog grooming services
- Digital purchases (such as movies and e-books)
- Food delivery services
- Dry cleaning
- Home maintenance and repair
- Car repairs
- Residential cleaning services
Local business owners are expressing concern about the potential impact.
Virginia Cleaners Owner Mike Hovis, in Roanoke, which serves approximately 120 customers daily, worries about the effect on his business.
“It’s going to impact a lot. My customers are very price sensitive,” said Hovis.
“I did just have a price increase go in in January, did not know that this tax was going to come into play. Otherwise, I may have accounted for that. But it’s going to impact things a lot, they’re going to have a lot of unhappy customers,” said Hovis.
The bill includes some tax relief measures, notably the elimination of state, local, and regional sales taxes on:
- Food
- Essential personal hygiene products
Revenue generated from the new service taxes would be allocated to specific purposes:
- Delivery fee taxes would support transportation initiatives
- The remaining revenue would be directed to schools
10 News spoke with you about the proposed changes.
“I don’t really think we need more taxes on top of what we’ve already got,” said Joyce Melki.
Julia Caterino, another resident, questioned the allocation of tax revenue: “Often, especially now, taxes don’t seem like they’re going to the correct thing. So I would say raising it doesn’t seem advantageous for anyone right now.”
The bill’s consideration has been postponed, with lawmakers deciding to take up the vote next year.
Multiple delegates, including Sam Rasoul, Lilly Franklin, and Ballard, were unavailable for comment when contacted about the legislation.