Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 22, 1994 TAG: 9407220135
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX LENGTH: Medium
But there are tax cheats lurking in those dark cul-de-sacs, and Captain X is on the case.
Captain X is the most zealous of a posse that calls itself the TEA Party, for Tax Evaders Anonymous. They cruise the highways and their own neighborhood streets looking for cars, often expensive ones, without a sticker proving the owner paid the local vehicle tax.
``This little group of about eight people started because we felt like chumps. Here we are legally paying, and all these other people aren't,'' said one of the founders of the loosely organized group. The man is an executive in a high-technology company who said he has anonymously turned in co-workers and neighbors in his exclusive subdivision. He asked that his name not be used.
``Our idea was this is like the Boston Tea party during the Revolution,'' the TEA member said. ``Only then it was taxation without representation they were protesting. Here we have representation without taxation.''
TEA claims to have nabbed more than 850 scofflaws this year.
The man who turned in co-workers said he doesn't regret it.
``It makes you think, `Gee, this person's nice, I don't feel right turning them in.' But when you look at the overall picture, there's people paying and people who are not. And if they're not, then they are stealing from all of us.''
Fairfax is the nation's richest county, with a median income of more than $65,000, according to the 1990 Census. No one knows how many of the 871,000 residents are evading their taxes, said Kevin Greenlief, acting director of the county's assessment office.
``There's a lot of it going on out there,'' he said.
The typical tax bill is about $250 per car, although at a rate of $4.57 per $100 of assessed value, high-priced models can easily bring $2,000 or more.
``The ones with the most to lose are also the ones who figure they will try to get away with it,'' said the anonymous TEA member. He said he has two expensive cars and pays nearly $4,000 annually.
Police issue $20 tickets for failing to display a sticker but rarely make systematic efforts to hunt down cheats.
Motorists are supposed to register their cars with the tax office, which calculates how much the vehicle is worth and issues a bill. The county cross-references registration and parking ticket lists, but Greenlief said tipsters provide many of the leads his office follows.
The county collected $13.4 million in delinquent personal property taxes last year and expects to bring in more this year.
``More power to them,'' he said of the TEA group. ``I think the concept is not to spy on your neighbor, but these people genuinely feel that it's not right'' to skip out on the tax.
TEA regularly sends Greenlief's office lists of suspect license numbers by mail and fax, and leaves information on a tax cheat hot line installed so citizens can tattle anonymously.
Captain X got his moniker by leaving long lists of license numbers on the hot-line answering machine and singing off with a cheery, ``This is Captain X, reporting.'' He did not respond to a request for an interview.
Since TEA's founding six years ago, membership has grown by word of mouth to several dozen, members said.
The group has been most active in the past year, due in no small measure to the efforts of Captain X, a big-game hunter in the suburban safari. X claims to have bagged 312 cars just since March, including the group's biggest trophy - a black Ferrari with personalized license plates that X spotted several days in a row on his morning commute.
The annual taxes apply to cars, trucks, motor homes, boats, airplanes and a variety of other large purchases.
by CNB