By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) signed a bill yesterday to establish a process for issuing refunds to people who paid taxes levied by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, taxes that were ruled unconstitutional by the Virginia Supreme Court.

But don't start checking your mailbox yet. It will probably take several weeks to work out the details on how to return the estimated $13 million the authority had collected since Jan. 1.

"There have been no checks sent out yet," said Gordon Hickey, Kaine's media secretary. Information is still being collected, Hickey said.

The state Supreme Court ruled last month that the General Assembly illegally shifted responsibility for raising taxes and fees to the NVTA.

The NVTA collected seven taxes and fees in Northern Virginia: a tax on home sellers, a 1 percent initial registration fee on new cars, a $10 regional registration fee, a 2 percent car rental tax, a 2 percent tax on hotel rooms, a $10 safety inspection fee and a 5 percent tax on motor vehicle repairs.

The bulk of the money collected on the authority's behalf came from the tax on home sellers, or grantor's tax.

Kaine said in a statement that the bill "creates an open, public process for the return of taxes and fees paid by individuals to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority."

Under the bill, the five Circuit Courts will jointly develop guidelines for the return of the grantor's tax within 60 days. The governor's office suggested that people who paid the tax call their settlement agent or the NVTA at 703-766-4650.

The Department of Motor Vehicles, which had not transferred any money to the NVTA, will send out refund checks. Guidelines for the return of the fees will be published by Tuesday. To update an address with the DMV, call 866-368-5463.

The other fees will be sent to the unclaimed property division of the Department of the Treasury, which will also publish its refund guidelines by Tuesday. Information will be updated at http://www.trs.virginia.gov. After Tuesday, taxpayers can call 804-278-0187.

NVTA members had held out hope that a compromise could be worked out between House and Senate leaders to address the court's concerns and allow the Northern Virginia authority to resume collecting the taxes and fees to pay for transportation projects.

The fees and taxes were to raise about $300 million a year, and members were getting ready to issue $1.5 billion in bonds for projects when the Supreme Court issued its ruling.

NVTA members said they hope that a special session of the legislature dealing with transportation could be piggybacked onto the veto session, which is scheduled for April 23.