Because of the federal government shutdown, the Board of County Supervisors should extend the deadline for paying personal property taxes, which are due Saturday, a Prince William County Supervisor said.
Brentsville Supervisor Wally Covington on Thursday said that he would ask the Board to extend the deadline for up to 90 days, the maximum allowed by state law. Thousands of Prince William County residents are employed by the federal government, and many may not be receiving paychecks, Covington said. He will propose the resolution at the Board’s Tuesday meeting.
“In recognition of the fact that many citizens have already endured years of economic uncertainty due to the inaction of Congress to pass their own budgets and now, many of those same citizens today literally do not know when their next pay check is coming, we as their elected officials have a duty to use our power to bring them some relief,” Covington said in a prepared statement.
Supervisor Peter Candland indicated he would probably support Covington’s resolution. Manassas Patch stated that taxes were due today, October 5. They are actually due of October 7. Even if the resolution does not pass, supervisors should consider dropping the late fee and interest for those who are paying late.
Plenty of other people are out of work who aren’t directly paid by the feds. A friend called me last night and said her mother who works for a contractor was also furloughed. To add insult to injury, this lady will have to run out her vacation time. The contract workers are taking just as bad of a hit as the federal employees, perhaps worse. While lawmakers are scrambling to create some back-pay bills to ensure a paycheck will be coming at some point, one wonders who will have the backs of the contract workers.
I encourage the Prince William County Board of Supervisors to delay the personal property taxes up to 90 days. When families miss paychecks, for whatever reason, it throws the rest of their budget off course and will take some time to correct. I would encourage the City of Manassas to create the same safety net for all those affected by this government shutdown.
A good idea but keep in mind the multiplier effect of the dollar-paid or not paid.
I was thinking of the many impacts – among them donations.