RICHMOND, Va. -- After receiving several questions from CBS 6 about multiple restaurants' issues regarding unresolved meals tax penalties, the city addressed some of those concerns Thursday in a virtual interview.
One of the concerns CBS 6 questioned the Richmond Mayor's Chief Administrative Officer Lincoln Saunders about was the issue the restaurant Philly Vegan was having with a bill that they said currently sits at around $37,000.
Samuel Veney, co-owner of Philly Vegan spoke with CBS 6 Wednesday after he said several attempts to try and resolve a bill that accumulated from unpaid meals tax with Richmond City's finance department, failed.
"We're not trying to avoid our tax obligation, we're just looking for fair resolution that acknowledges the exceptional nature of our situation," said Veney.
Back in 2021, 9 months after Philly Vegan opened, the business was sent a bill from the city for almost $27,000 in unpaid meals taxes. It's a tax the business owners said they did not collect solely based on the instruction given to them by the city when they first went to get their business license.
"She was like you don't have any seating we said no, she said well since you’re takeout only you cannot collect a meals tax. Then she filled out our paperwork, wrote on there take-out only and did not check the ALM box," said Veney.
When told by the city that they actually were supposed to be paying a meals tax, Veney said they immediately began collecting for it.
The city then acknowledged they made a mistake but said the business still needed to pay the bill. So, CBS 6 reached out to the city Wednesday and was given a statement saying in part that they couldn't comment on a specific situation.
On Thursday however, CBS 6 asked in the virtual interview with Saunders if the city would be waving the meals tax fees accumulated after they admitted they made a mistake.
"I can't specifically say that, you know, what we will or will not do into the future...I will say that I do think that when the city has culpability, or has, you know, a piece of the responsibility, there's a responsibility on the business side, as well as on the city side and I do think it deserves additional review," Saunders responded.
Reviews Veney said Thursday that the city needs to do as soon as possible, as he’s heard from other restaurant owners facing similar problems.
"I think that it should be studied on a case-by-case basis but I think also collectively, they should examine what is going on. Why is this happening? Because it's definitely a trend," Veney told CBS 6 in response to Saunders answer.
CBS 6 also asked Saunders about how and when the city plans to put improvements in place to prevent issues like this from happening again. He said they hope to automate the meals tax system this year.
"One of the challenges today is that this is a largely manual process. The city has known for several years that we needed to automate, we needed to get enhanced technology and we've made a clear point of saying that we need to get a more customer friendly, user friendly system in place," Saunders responded. "Expecting this year to transfer the admission lodging and meals taxes to RVA pay."
Veney said he hopes the city makes these changes quickly as it continues to impact its citizens.
"We're in 2024. Doing things manually, causing mistakes that can cost people their whole entire business... is just not right," Veney said.
Saunders also said that Philly Vegan is one of those cases that deserves additional review and today Veney told CBS 6 they now have a meeting scheduled with the city next week.
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