If you live in Christiansburg, anyway.

No one's ever happy about taxes being raised, and this seems to be an issue at every Council meeting where the topic is broached.  The business license tax is going up dramatically, though, and people are alarmed:

"Currently, retail stores pay a BPOL tax of 10 cents per $100 of gross receipts. With the proposed increase, that would go up to 15 cents. That's still less than the tax for retailers in Blacksburg, where the rate is the state maximum of 20 cents per $100. According to the city of Roanoke's Web site, Virginia ranks ninth in the country for the lowest business tax burden."

I know I hate writing that business license check every March, but in return I'm allowed to business in the Town.  What a tradeoff … in the end it's worth it though, and I agree with the decision to bring the BPOL up in Christiansburg.  Retail and residential should share in the process.