I can't let 2006 end without noting my outrage that my home county of Arlington, Virginia, has seen fit to raise the personal property tax on vehicles from 4.4 to 5% of value. The stated rationale is the need to provide property tax relief. Hello! Property values in Arlington have more than doubled in the past six years, and property taxes have risen along with the increase in values. Arlington has cut the property tax rate a bit, but is still taking in far, far more in property tax revenues than it did just a few years ago. If Arlington couldn't survive on its property tax revenues at the height of the greatest residential real estate boom in area history, I really wonder how the country government going to handle its finances once the decline in residential real estate values starts showing up in property tax assessments.