My Endorsement For Mount Vernon School Board Representative 2023

In the last four years, Northern Virginia's teachers and students have become a political punching bag for Governor Youngkin and Attorney General Miyares.  The Fairfax County School Board has been under siege with politically-motivated lawsuits and political investigations for the last four years.  As a result, only four incumbents are running for re-election and our Mt. Vernon School Board Member Karen Corbett Sanders is not running for re-election.

Karen has done an amazing job fighting to ensure that students in our part of the county get the attention and share of resources that they deserve.  I am exceptionally proud of her efforts to reform the admissions process at Thomas Jefferson H.S.S.T. which previously rarely admitted students from Carl Sandburg Middle School, Walt Whitman Middle School, Hayfield Secondary School, or Mark Twain Middle School. Before the reforms she led, two middle schools made up 20% of every class.  She led the charge to obtain funds to renovate our schools.   You can read more about her accomplishments in the Commending Resolution I passed this session:

Senate Joint Resolution 409 Commending Karen Corbett Sanders 

I joined with Mt. Vernon District School Board Member Karen Corbett Sanders in endorsing Mateo Dunne to serve as the Democratic endorsed candidate for the Mt. Vernon District seat on the Fairfax County School Board. I join in my endorsement along with Delegate Mark Sickles, Former Delegate and Fairfax County School Board Chair and Mt. Vernon Member Kristen Amundson, Fairfax County Board Chair Jeff McKay, and Former Fairfax County Board Chair Sharon Bulova.

   

www.mateodunne.com/

Thank You 44th District Voters

Things have been slow over here at The Dixie Pig over the last couple weeks.  I've been busy engaging with my family, getting my law practice back up an running, and I had four-day trial last week. 

Between September 27 and November 11, the Republican leadershrip invested nearly $200,000 into my opponent’s race.  Here are the final results:

Surovell: 8,738 Votes (59.43%)
Barsa:  5,742 Votes (39.05%)
Glean:  223 Votes (1.52%)

Thank you.

I was also very pleased to see Senator Puller, Senator-Elect Ebbin, and School Board Member Dan Storck win by commanding margins as well while we held on to our majorities on the Fairfax County School Board.  These results would not have been possible without the time and effort of hundreds of volunteers, and the financial support of nearly 1,300 donors.

If you are interested in how your precinct turned out, you can look up more specific results here.   We won 15 of 18 precincts and the absentee vote. 

We tried to run a positive, issues-focused campaign that focused on my record and vision for the future of our part of Fairfax County and Virginia.  The voters of the 44th District rejected the overwhelmingly negative and nasty campaign of my opponent. 

I never publicly responded to my opponent's attacks, but here are a few thoughts.

Route 1 
My opponent said my only accomplishment on Route 1 was "a little brown sign."  During my first year in 2010, Delegate Sam Nixon proposed legislation designating a portion of Route 1 in Chesterfield County as "Historic Route 1" as part of their Route 1 revitalization efforts.  I lead a bipartisan coalition of thirty-two legislators who sent Governor McDonnell a letter asking him to designate the entire road.  Governor McDonnell followed suit and the amendment was passed unanimously.  I wrote more about it here:

The Dixie Pig, Historic Route 1 Signs Are Up

I've also led many other efforts on Route 1 since being elected including:

• Passage & funding of the Route 1 Transit Study
• Obtaining over 500 signatures demanding that Route 1 be added to the state's Six Year Improvement Plan (letter & signatures here);
• Being only 1 of 2 Northern Virginia legislators to speak out at the Commonwealth Transportation Board public hearing on its Six Year Improvement Plan (watch video here);
• Introduced legislation two years in a row to study the creation of a special Route 1 Transportation Funding District (legislation here);
• I've also written countless letters and articles that you can access here.

"The Third Least Effective Delegate In Richmond"
My opponent cited a statistic published by Virginia FREE which surveys Richmond lobbyists every year regarding legislators' effectiveness.  Virginia FREE is an organization that promotes business interests in Richmond.  It provides us with a questionnaire every year that is designed by the state's largest corporate interests. 

The Washington Post reported that although I had raised more money than any incumbent who won re-election in my Caucus, I raised less money from Richmond interests than any legislator in the entire legislature. 

The Washington Post, Groups That Lobby Richmond Assembly Have Donated Millions to Candidates (Aug. 6, 2011)

On the other hand, my opponent has reported raising at least $193,000 so far.  Of his total, $176,000 came from the Republican Leadership committees and he reported an additional $25,000 in late reported leadership money as well.  These are largely funded by Richmond interest groups.  He only raised about $10,000 (five percent) from people inside the 44th District.  I have raised about $82,000 from voters in the 44th District over the last two years (approximately one-third of my total fundraising). 

VA FREE's rankings consistently rank freshman Democrats very low.  Nearly all of the bottom ten members are Democratic freshman.  Freshmen in the minority are rarely given lobbyists' bills to carry and their bills are routinely killed by the majority. 

Notwithstanding that, I introduced more bills than any freshman in the minority and passed more bills (seven) than any other freshman in the minority. 

92% Partisan Voting History
My opponent said that I "voted with my party 92% of the time."  His citation for that statistic was the entire legislative database.  I have no idea what that statistic is based upon.  Having said that, given that my chamber is controlled by the Republican Party, there are very pieces of legislation that come to the floor that I would characterize as being Democratic. 

Meals' Taxes
My opponent also attacked me for attempting to undermine the will of Fairfax County's voters on the meals' tax. 

Due to the Dillon Rule, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors cannot enact a meals tax.  Counties only have the authority to enact a meals tax by referendum.  Five counties (Arlington, Rockingham, Rockbridge, Roanoke & Frederick County) have been given the authority to enact a meals tax by unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors.  In 2001, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors proposed a referendum on the meals tax.  It was rejected by the voters. 

Fairfax County's Public Schools faced a $180 million deficit two years ago.  A meals tax is projected to raise $80 million per year.  Meals taxes are also currently levied by the City of Alexandria, Arlington County, the City of Falls Church, the City of Fairfax and the Town of Vienna.  I introduced legislation that would allow Fairfax County to be added to the list of jurisdictions that could enact a meals tax by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors.  Given that Fairfax County has three Republican Supervisors, enactment would require bipartisan agreement. 

Negative campaigning did not work.  At the end of the day, the voters of the 44th District have spoken and I am honored to have two more years to serve our community.  Thank you so much for your support during the campaign and on election day.  If I can ever be of any service please don't hesitate to contact my office.

RTD Endorses Surovell Tax Cheat Whistleblower Legislation

Practicing law and litigating financial disputes, I get to look at a lot of financial statements and tax returns for quite a few businesses and people. One thing that has always shocked me is the amount of tax fraud that is out there and the lack of government enforcement.

Our tax system is largely based upon the honor system - honesty and voluntary compliance. Most people get a paycheck from someone else. Your income is reported to the IRS via a W-2 or 1099. Dividend income, capital gains from stock and mutual fund sales, mortgage interest, and real estate taxes paid are electronically reported by two parties. If you don't report all of it or claim too much of some deductions, the IRS computers will flag you and you will get assessed for a deficiency and the burden is on you to prove they are wrong.

Some estimates say that thirty to forty percent of taxpayers cheat on their returns. Estimates say this costs the federal government at least $300 to $400 billion per year - four times the Virginia Budget.

In Virginia, people who actually live in Virginia claim they live in other states to avoid paying 5.75% Virginia income taxes.

When it comes to small business, there are no computerized checks on gross income or business expenses. Most business owners over-deduct for cars, mobile phones, home offices, and equipment (computers) used for businesses that are primarily used for personal purposes. People claim life insurance is "key-man" insurance when it's really just regular life insurance. I could go on - I've seen some very creative accounting. Many businesses for sale like laundromats or restaurants openly brag about the percentage of their revenue in cash as a selling point - the implication being you can not report all of it.

It's not just income taxes. When I was a Governor's Fellow working in the Department of Motor Vehicles I learned about gas tax fraud. The mafia was bringing down tanker trucks full of heating oil and selling it as diesel gas (it is chemically identical) on I-81. Gas stations were listing gas for retail under the wholesale price because they weren't paying $0.33/gal. of state and federal gas taxes. Failure to report implicates meals taxes, hotel taxes and event taxes.

In the early days of the Bush Administration, IRS enforcement programs were completely gutted and largely defunded. Random audits dropped. Only 1% of taxpayers allegedly earning under $100,000 per year are audited. For people making $200,000 per year it's 3% and if you're lucky enough to make over $1,000,000 per year 8% odds.

In 2006, the U.S. Congress authorized an expanded whistleblower reward program. The regulations were implemented around 2008. If you blow the whistle on a federal tax cheat, you can receive a reward of between 15% to 30% of the recovery. However, I was surprised that Virginia has no similar program although tipping off the federal government is likely to result in recovered Virginia tax revenue. I did not think that was right.

California, Indiana, Illinois, Nevada and Rhode Island have adopted their own whistleblower reward programs, and I introduced HB 1805 which would have created a similar program in Virginia. Today, the Richmond Times Dispatch issued an editorial supporting my bill:

Start Snitchin'?

Using ordinary citizens as an extra set of eyes and ears for law enforcement is nothing new, and lawmakers do not seem to have tired of the concept —– as two bills introduced this year at the General Assembly attest.

HB1805 would award payments to citizens who brought tax-dodgers to state attention. The whistleblower could get up to 30 percent of the delinquent taxes collected. So far, so good. However, the legislation stipulates that the award system does not apply when the tax dodger earns less than $100,000 (or, for a business, $500,000).

Why the cutoff line? The entire notion of the rule of law rests on the principle that a person's station in life does not determine how the government treats him. A scofflaw is a scofflaw — period....

The House has passed the two measures by for the year, meaning they won't be taken up again until next session. Still, the mind wonders: Shouldn't Virginia lawmakers stand up for the toiling and exploited masses everywhere? Or are they singling out strip clubs in the hopes of doing some, er, undercover investigation?

At the Committee hearing on the bill, no one spoke against it and no one spoke for it. The Department of Taxation said they were agnostic about it. The bill was tabled although one member told me he thought it was a good idea.

If I'm lucky enough to be back next year, I will be refiling this one. Cheating on your taxes is un-American and I have zero tolerance for it.

Mt. Vernon Voice Endorses Fairfax Meals Tax Option

Earlier this session, I introduced HB 830, a bill to give Fairfax County the authority to enact a meals tax without a referendum, but by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors. I wrote about the bill in my article Fighting for Education Funding where I explained my rationale - that Fairfax County is over-reliant on residential real estate taxes, that restaurant meals are a luxury already taxed by most surrounding jurisdictions, and that Richmond over-restricts Fairfax County's flexibility.

This option coupled with reversing Governor Kaine's decision to "freeze" the Local Composite Index could cover $140 million of Fairfax County's $176 million school budget hole.

The bill was killed by a subcommittee of the House of Delegates Finance Committee on a 5-2 vote. However, there is other legislation supported by Senator Toddy Puller that passed the Senate on a 25-15 vote that accomplishes the same result.

This week, the Mount Vernon Voice endorsed my efforts and legislation in a lengthy editorial. I have quoted the last few paragraphs below.

None have us HAVE to eat out (although I might argue this point on a personal level). If we want to go to a restaurant, it is our choice not a necessity. And let's be honest. We have never chosen a restaurant in Fairfax over a restaurant in Alexandria becaues that city has a meals tax.

Have you?

Mount Vernon Supervisor Gerry Hyland has been trying to make this point with his fellow supervisors for some time. Now we are running out of time.

We strongly support Del. Scott Surovell's (D-44th) bill to allow the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to unanimously approve enacting a meals tax without a referendum seeking approval of voters. Sometimes you just to take action.

THIS is the time.

Thank you to the Mount Vernon Voice for stepping up and standing with me on this issue.