Two Fairfax County supervisors want the county to bring in tech startups to remove some of the tax bill burden from the shoulders of homeowners.

In a column published Thursday in the Reston Connection, Supervisors James Walkinshaw (D-Braddock) and Rodney Lusk (D-Franconia) said tech companies could create well-paying jobs for software engineers, cybersecurity workers and data scientists. Many of those workers already have skills from federal contracting jobs. The supervisors pointed to federal job cuts as a reason to move quickly.

They highlighted the Fairfax Founders Fund, which gives grants of up to $50,000 to new companies that want to set up shop in the county.

Six months of the meals tax

The push for more business investment comes six months after Fairfax County started charging a 4% tax on prepared food and drinks. That tax, which took effect at the beginning of the year, applies at restaurants, cafes, bars and food trucks in unincorporated Fairfax County, including Reston Town Center and the Dulles Toll Road corridor. It does not apply in the Town of Herndon.

On top of Virginia's 6% sales tax, Reston diners now pay 10% total tax on restaurant meals.

The county expected the tax to bring in about $65 million in the current budget year. Roughly $22 million of that would come from visitors rather than residents, according to county budget numbers. The county has not released actual collection figures for the tax's first six months.

How the meals tax came about

The meals tax grew out of a February 19, 2025 board meeting where supervisors faced a $292.7 million hole in the budget. Chairman Jeff McKay argued a food tax could protect homeowners from higher property taxes.

"If we had a food and beverage tax in place, we could conceivably not have to increase the tax rate on real estate," McKay said during that meeting.

Supervisor Dalia Palchik (D-Providence) called for the county to grow its business tax base so it could lean less on homeowners. Lusk asked County Executive Bryan Hill what the county was doing to attract investment. Hill named AI, space technology, and data centers as target industries.

The board passed the fiscal year 2026 budget on May 13, 2025, by a 9-1 vote. Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) was the only no vote. The property tax rate was set at $1.1225 per $100 of assessed home value, but average homeowner bills still went up $499 because home values rose. The budget also raised the hotel tax from 4% to 6%, affecting hotels at Reston Town Center and along the Dulles corridor.

The meals tax does not apply to groceries, snack foods or sealed bottles of alcohol sold to go. The board has not scheduled a vote on a formal plan to recruit businesses.