Low- and middle-income families pay a disproportionate share of taxes in Virginia, a study by a tax policy institute concluded Wednesday.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and the Virginia Organizing Project, which represents low-income Virginians, said Virginia families earning less than $19,000 a year pay 8.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes, while the richest taxpayers -- those making more than $1.5 million a year -- pay only 6.3 percent.
Matthew Gardner, executive director of the institute, said the main reason for the unfairness of the Virginia tax system is the state's reliance on sales and excise taxes. The sales tax on food was lowered by 2 percentage points to 2.5 percent in 2004, when Gov. Mark R. Warner pushed through a $1.4 billion tax increase.
Virginia's income tax is the same, 5 3/4 percent, for all taxpayers with income of $17,000 or more.
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