In rural America, service demands for people were few and government's focus was on accessing and preserving property values. Yet much expenditure now affects the condition and value of transient folks who come and go and commute across local boundaries. Expenditures such as those made on education, health, and welfare should be much more a matter of state-level concern and tap into income and transaction taxes. None of these fits is perfect, but clearly when compared with others, things are out of kilter in Virginia in linking local resources with responsibilities. That is, how to assign revenue sources that provide adequate resources to meet expenditure demands.
Public schools are the biggest local cost item.
The more state support, the less it is a matter of local concern where jobs are located versus where people choose to live. In Virginia, the local support required from the higher-income communities is very heavy when compared with national norms. When real estate values went bust in the 1990s, localities got hammered and lost a decade of growth. A Dillon Rule state, the Commonwealth keeps tight control of local taxing powers. Whatever may be the popularity of reforms, state curbs on the personal property tax limited one of the few income-sensitive, elastic taxes available to localities.