Ninety percent of Fairfax County car owners will experience “a substantial increase in the assessed value” of their cars, according to the county’s Chief Financial Officer Christina Jackson.

This could cause an increase of $186 per vehicle owner during property tax bills this year. Usually the value of a car, and the tax owed, go down every year.

“No one has talked about this,” said Chairman Jeff McKay, at the Budget Committee meeting last Tuesday, March 15.

An average car, for example, assessed at $11,778 in FY2022 will be valued at $15,663 for property tax purposes in FY2023; that comes with a total tax bill of $716 this year that was $538 last year, according to county documents.

“In Richmond, they are talking about a lot of tax breaks for people but no one’s talking about this,” said McKay.

“My 12-year-old car that has 154,000 miles on it is looking better and better all the time.” 

— Mason Supervisor Penny Gross

McKay moved that the Board send a letter to Gov. Glenn Youngkin “asking for real car tax relief for people in Fairfax County who are struggling with, again, something beyond their capacity to be able to control.”

The pandemic has impacted the supply chain, causing greater demand than supply. Automakers bult fewer cars because of critical shortages of supplies like microchips; low supply and high demand has caused values to rise. And used car prices have gone up, too.

The Board of Supervisors discussed how to mitigate the impact of rising assessments during the committee meeting. Staff has recommended an 85 percent ratio to cut the tax owed.

“I support action we can take at the County level to provide additional car tax relief as well,” McKay said two days later in an email to residents.

The Board would act on this along with budget adoption on May 10, 2022.

“My 12-year-old car that has 154,000 miles on it is looking better and better all the time,” said Mason Supervisor Penny Gross, at the committee hearing last week.