Tax Type
Individual Income Tax
Description
Richmond Occupation Tax;Applicable to Employees of the Commonwealth
Topic
Collection of Tax
Date Issued
12-15-1969
This is in reply to your letter of December 9, 1969, which reads as follows:
- "The action of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia in approving Richmond's so-called employment tax has given rise to several questions on which I would appreciate your opinion.
"(2) Will these employees of the Commonwealth of Virginia who work within the confines of Capitol Square be affected by the tax, and if the answer to this question is the negative, I would appreciate being advised as to the boundaries of Capitol Square.'
The answer to your first question is in the affirmative.
The tax applies to all persons who work in the City of Richmond more than 90 days a calendar year. There is no exemption in the ordinance for State employees. Therefore, I am of the opinion that the tax applies to the employees working for the Commonwealth of Virginia, whose place of employment is in the city.
The answer to your second question is in the negative.
Capitol Square is not a part of the City of Richmond and is not within the jurisdiction of said city, but subject to the sole jurisdiction of the Commonwealth of Virginia. See opinion of this office to the Honorable L. M. Kuhn, Director of the Budget, dated September 25, 1961, found in the Reports of the Attorney General (1961-1962), p. 250.
The land composing Capitol Square is the land acquired by the Commonwealth, pursuant to Chapter 21 of Volume 10 of Hening's Statutes at Large. The land set apart for Capitol Square is described in this Act as follows:
"That six whole squares of ground surrounded each of them by four streets, and containing all the ground within such streets, situate in the said town of Richmond, and on an open and airy part thereof, shall be appropriated to the use and purpose of public buildings: On one of the said squares shall be erected, one house for the use of the general assembly, to be called the capitol, which said capitol shall contain two apartments for the use of the senate and their clerk, two others for the use of the house of delegates and their clerk, and others for the purposes of conferences, committees and a lobby, of such forms and dimensions as shall be adopted to their respective purposes: On one other of the said squares shall be erected, another building to be called the halls of justice, which shall contain two apartments for the use of the court of appeals and its clerk, two others for the use of the high court of chancery and its clerk, two others for the use of the general court and its clerk, two others for the use of the court of admiralty and its clerk and others for the uses of grand and petty juries, of such forms and dimensions as shall be adopted to their respective purposes; and on the same square last mentioned shall be built a public jail; One other of the said squares shall be reserved for the purpose of building thereon hereafter, a house for the several executive boards and the offices to be held in; Two others with the intervening street, shall be reserved for the use of the governor of this Commonwealth for the time being, and the remaining square shall be appropriated to the use of the public market.
* * * '
Today's boundaries of Capitol Square are those shown on the "Original Plan of Land Taken for Capitol Square, August 17, 1784', upon which plan is superimposed the boundary of Capitol Square as it existed March 1, 1930. The boundaries are more clearly shown on a topographic map of The Richmond Department of Public Works and Virginia State Planning Board prepared by J. C. Harrison, Topographer in 1935. See also, "Plans of the City of Richmond Drawn From Actual Survey and Original Plans by Mieajah Bates, 1835.' All of these plans are on file at the State Library.
Attorney General's Opinion