Small Business Saturday

Culpeper Chamber of Commerce

Culpeper Star Exponent

October 27, 2014

Debbie Stohlman, Acting President/CEO

‘The only certainty in life is death and taxes’, was a constant statement made to me by my father during my teen years. I am certain my dear old dad was trying to teach me a life lesson of independence but all I heard was the death part which totally freaked me out.  Taxes meant nothing to me at the time.  Oh, how blissfully ignorant I was!

This article is not an attempt to extol the virtues or non-virtues of taxation but rather a supportive argument for spending your hard earned dollars locally.   It goes without saying, tax revenue is necessary for the support of roads, infrastructure, libraries, law enforcement,  schools and parks.  Without these amenities the quality of life in our community would suffer.  Tax revenue in Culpeper County and the Town of Culpeper come from many sources.  Let’s focus on sales tax revenue because we all have reasonable control on where we spend our dollars.  

In Virginia, the general sales tax rate is 5.3%.  For every dollar spent in Culpeper on taxable goods or services, 5.3 cents is collected from the consumer and paid by the business to the Commonwealth.  The Commonwealth in turn sends 1 cent back to Culpeper.  According to the Virginia Department of Taxation, Culpeper’s sales from August 2014 generated $611,710.56 in tax revenue for our community.  That is a lot of pennies!  You as a consumer and resident can easily have a positive effect on this figure - simply choose to spend more of your dollars in Culpeper.  As long as you are in Virginia, you will be paying the 5.3% sales tax - why not spend it locally?  It just makes good ‘cents’!

With the holiday season fast approaching, consider this concept.  Direct more of  your holiday dollars to Culpeper businesses.  Not only will your tax dollars come back to our community, but you will be supporting the many businesses that create our unique quality of life.  From the corner gas station and grocery store, to Culpeper’s  retailers and restaurants, both small and large - the dollars you spend in Culpeper are directly related to the tax revenue that comes back to our community.

The Culpeper Chamber of Commerce and Culpeper Renaissance, Inc. will be promoting and supporting Small Business Saturday on November 29th - a program founded by American Express to help small business owners get more customers and to encourage people across the country to support small, local businesses.  The program had its start in 2010 and is now  a holiday shopping tradition. Many local businesses will be participating. It will be the perfect time for you to start directing your dollars to our local businesses.