Should an elected official who does not pay property taxes, either as a homeowner or indirectly through rent payments to a landlord, have a say in discussing and setting tax rates in Arlington?
That’s the question posed by County Board candidate Audrey Clement, who in an e-mail to supporters pointed out that the Democratic nominee for County Board uses a state law giving disabled veterans the ability to apply for property-tax exemptions.
That candidate, J.D. Spain Sr., uses such an exemption. As a result, he and his wife do not pay the property-tax bill on their Arlington home, which otherwise would run about $9,200 annually.
“While I don’t begrudge J.D. Spain any tax exemptions to which he may be entitled as the result of a disability, I don’t think it’s fair for someone who doesn’t pay real-estate taxes to make decisions on behalf of those who do,” Clement said in her message to supporters.
She went on to say that, if elected, “I pledge to propose an ordinance requiring members of the board and commissions who do not pay Arlington real-estate taxes either directly or indirectly to recuse themselves from discussion and votes on taxation matters.”
The issue of Spain using the exemption was known to several candidates in the June 18 Democratic County primary, but they opted not to bring it up. Spain won the primary and will now be the front-runner in the four-candidate Nov. 5 race.
Questioned by the GazetteLeader about Clement’s comments, Spain said she had her facts wrong.
“My spouse and I own two properties in Arlington and one in Fairfax,” he said. “We are responsible for paying property taxes on both a property in Arlington and one in Fairfax. We pay a substantial amount in property taxes each year.”
Under the political dictum that the best defense is usually a good offense, Spain responded directly to Clement, suggesting her initial comment “seems to insinuate negativity towards me, and perhaps others who are disabled veterans entitled to certain benefits as per state law and local policy.”
“There are hundreds of veterans with the same status in Arlington, across the commonwealth and nation,” he said in the note, which was shared with the GazetteLeader.
In her own follow-up, Clement said she was not being disrespectful but raising a question.
“I in no way mean to disparage you or anyone else as a disabled veteran,” she wrote Spain. “In fact over the course of the past decade, I housed on and off in my Westover apartment a homeless, disabled Iraq war veteran until he died of long COVID in the early part of 2021.”
“I remain concerned that you may not adequately represent those who have no real-estate tax exemptions,” Clement said in the back-and-forth with Spain.
In a follow-up with the GazetteLeader, Clement said her policy proposal remained a reasonable one, given that tax bills for Arlington property owners are expected to continue to hit ever-increasing records in coming years.
“If I can afford to pay $500 additional tax a year on Property 1 but not $500 additional tax on Property 2, how will I view the next real-estate-tax increase proposed by the county manager?” she wrote. “Won’t my position change depending on whether one of those two properties is tax-exempt?”
The dust-up provides a little fuel for local-politics junkies as campaign season takes a breather. For the most part, it will resume in early September as debate season kicks off.
In addition to Spain and Clement, the County Board field includes Republican Juan Carlos Fierro and Madison Granger of the nascent Forward Party.
