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Since 2018, Charlottesville has actually been declaring that freelance authors should pay the city’s company license tax– despite the fact that the “city’s business code does not list authors among the list of taxable occupations.” That malpractice of business tax ends now after the Virginia Supreme Court maintained a lower court’s ruling that stated the city of Charlottesville can’t enforce its business license tax on freelance authors.
According to Institute for Justice (IJ) reports who represent the freelance author Corban Addison, IJ challenged a program by Charlottesville, Virginia, to enforce a “business license tax” on freelance authors whose work includes them being in front of a computer system in the home.
The ruling verified a lower court ruling that stated the very same. And as a result, Addison will get a refund of $2,461.23 in taxes he did not require to pay, and will no longer go through Charlottesville’s business license tax.
Here’s what IJ Attorney Renée Flaherty stated:
“Today’s decision affirms that municipalities don’t have an unlimited power to tax. If a city wants to tax its citizens, the law must be clear. Writers aren’t running businesses, and Charlottesville can’t tax them like they are.”
IJ Attorney Keith Neely also said:
“If a municipality wants to tax its citizens, it must be clear about who it is taxing. A government cannot simply pass vague tax policies and then treat citizens like living, breathing ATMs.”
WND via IJ.org explained the ruling further:
The IJ explained the point of a business license tax is to help the city pay for infrastructure linked to storefronts.
But that does not apply to Corban or other freelancers, whose “business” operations involve no parking, showroom, or visitors.
The city claimed while the authors are not specifically listed, the law’s “catchall provision” required Corban to pay the business license tax.
“Taxing freelance writers under an ambiguous catch-all provision in the city code was unfair,” Corban said. “Today’s decision is an affirmation of what I always believed: Charlottesville is a place that is open and welcoming to creative individuals.”
The lawsuit was launched in 2019 after Corban was assessed thousands of dollars in back taxes.
His suit was filed in conjunction with fellow best-selling author John Hart, who is challenging Albemarle County’s similar law. In January 2021, the 16th Judicial Circuit of Virginia held that Charlottesville’s business license tax violated Corban’s 14th Amendment rights.
H/T: Patriot Nation Press, WND
