Pandemic impacting Virginians' taxes

Used cars and property taxes

The pandemic is influencing every phase of life in Virginia – including your taxes.

ARLINGTON, Va. - The pandemic has impacted a lot of things - and now, if you live in Virginia, it could impact your taxes.

The value of used cars has gone up thanks to COVID and that means some people will have to pay more in personal property taxes on vehicles.

Loudoun County Commissioner of Revenue, Bob Wertz says the used car market was compressed because of the pandemic.

"Folks weren’t employed so they weren’t buying new vehicles. Airports were shut down so companies that rent cars weren’t replacing their fleets because they weren’t getting miles on them. And so the market was compressed and it created competition for the used vehicles," Wertz said.

Counties and municipalities in Virginia assess the value of vehicles on January 1st of every year. Wertz says in Loudoun County about 13% of vehicles saw an increase in value.

Download the FOX 5 DC News App for Local Breaking News and Weather

"It’s up year over year. It’s a year older, it’s got more miles and it was worth more money January 1st of this year than it was last year," he said.

Wertz says the average increase is about $25 and they’ve gotten phone calls from people not happy about the spike.

"We’re the first locality in Virginia to do billing so we’re the first to experience it and we’ve gotten a lot of phone traffic. They’re not too happy because people will tell you a vehicle loses value when it’s driven off the lot so they don’t expect that this is going to transpire but it’s basic economics of supply and demand," he said.

You can appeal the state’s assessment value of your vehicle on most county websites.