Arthur G. Purves, president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance, today observed that according to Fairfax County's own figures, real estate taxes for the 'typical' Fairfax County household will have increased nearly $1000 dollars since Kate Hanley's re-election as county chairman two years ago.

According to the "Trends" section of the Fairfax County FY2003 Advertised Budget Plan Overview, page 127, real estate taxes for the 'typical' Fairfax County household increased from $2,407 in FY2000 to $3,357 this year. The budget Overview "Trends" section is available on the Internet at: http://www.co.fairfax.va.us/gov/omb/pdf/overview/trends.pdf

Even after adjusting for inflation, the increase is still $761. A graph of Fairfax County real estate tax trends since 1981 is available on the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance website, at www.fcta.org.

The Hanley tax increase is the largest in the 22-year period for which the county has reported real estate tax trends. Her tax hike is larger than the tax increases that caused former county chairman Audrey Moore to lose her re-election bid in 1991.

In her 1999 re-election campaign, Hanley stated that she did not anticipate raising taxes after the supervisors' election. Purves, who ran as an independent against Hanley, predicted that she would raise taxes.

Purves stated, "Kate Hanley's legacy is going to be higher taxes for crowded roads and crowded schools. Hanley won re-election in 1999 with 76 percent of the vote. I wonder how she would have done had the voters realized that voting for Kate Hanley would cost them $1000?"

To offset the 16 percent increase in real estate assessments this year, the Taxpayer Alliance urges the supervisors to set the real estate tax rate at $1.06 instead of the current rate of $1.23. Reducing the rate to $1.06 is not a tax cut. It only prevents another tax increase.