Windshield Tax Decal Is History

The owners of almost 900,000 Fairfax County cars will get a reprieve starting this week from that dreaded Virginia ritual, acquiring the car-tax decal.

The windshield sticker is used throughout the state as evidence that car owners have paid their personal property tax. The tax will stay, but on July 1, the $25 fee to acquire and show the evidence became history.

The change was approved by the Board of Supervisors this spring. Households, on average, will save $58 a year, county officials said, and Fairfax will lose about $20 million a year in revenue.

Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) said when he proposed the idea in January that he wanted to balance property tax relief between homeowners and other constituents who own cars but not homes.

Residents of Herndon, Vienna and Clifton, towns that are part of Fairfax but have separate governments, are not eligible for the break. The county is the first locality to eliminate the decal and the fee to obtain it, county spokeswoman Merni Fitzgerald said.

Most car owners won't notice the change until they receive their car-tax bills and find no fee for the decal. Those buying cars before then won't face the traditional 60-day deadline for getting the decal.

County officials urge motorists to make sure that the address on their license is up-to-date. Police outside the county cannot ticket a Fairfax County car without a decal, but the officer can ask to see if the motorist has a Fairfax address.

And the absence of the decal hassle doesn't mean motorists can shrug off the personal property tax on their cars. Technology has made the unpopular decals redundant as an enforcement tool.

Through electronic links, the state Department of Motor Vehicles can now block license renewal, registration or purchase of license plates for any motorist with unpaid personal property taxes. The county can also put liens on salaries.