OUR VIEW - The good, bad and ugly of county taxes

More insights regarding Culpeper County's fiscal year 2008 budget:

. CAR TAX: Last year, the average car owner got socked with a tax bill that nearly doubled. Despite widespread public outcry, county supervisors voted 6-1 (with Bill Chase dissenting) not to alter the astronomical rate this time around. Let's put this tax into perspective. Under the old rate, the owner of a $20,000 car would pay $230 to the county. Now it's $434. Worse yet, let's say you just bought a new car for $30,000. Get ready to fork over $784. Outrageous.

. FUNDING SCHOOLS: We understand that the county had to raise taxes in large part to offset the cost of building two schools. But we don't agree with taxing car owners so heavily in order to bring in revenue. Which leads us to out next point …

. AIRPLANE TAX: If the county is looking for ways to fund big projects, why didn't the airplane tax increase- County Administrator Frank Bossio, who prepares and presents the budget each year, left the airplane tax at 63 cents per $100 of assessed value. He argues that Culpeper's hangar fees are already high and that increasing the airplane tax would be bad for business. It's no secret that Bossio is director of Culpeper Regional Airport and that Supervisor Steve Nixon is on the CRA board. Both are pilots. Bossio, who lives in Fauquier County, doesn't have to pay Culpeper's car tax. However, he does have an airplane housed at the county's airport. Nixon has a helicopter there too. It would have been nice if they had spread the tax burden just a bit in that direction.

. REAL ESTATE TAX: Overall, homeowners can expect an average tax increase of about 7.7 percent. (After equalizing the tax rate to match the most recent round of assessments, the rate increased by 4 cents per $100 of assessed value.) Considering that homeowners are all too often expected to shoulder the tax burden, this is a fair amount.

. MEALS TAX: For the past three elections, voters have nixed a proposed county meals tax that, theoretically, could have helped offset taxes in other areas. Next time the meals tax appears on the ballot, vote yes.