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Restaurant owners warn meal tax increase would strain local eateries recovering from labor shortages
Summary
Local restaurant and seafood business owners told council a proposed meals tax increase would harm small, locally owned eateries still recovering from pandemic-era staffing losses and could hurt tourism that depends on local food businesses.
At the April 16, 2025 public hearing on the FY2025 budget, local restaurant suppliers and owners urged the Virginia Beach City Council to reconsider a proposed meals tax increase.
Chris Leffert, who said his business supplies seafood to restaurants and works with local tourism, said a meal tax would disproportionately burden locally owned restaurants that cannot absorb extra costs the way larger chains can. “While they’re doing that, any extra fees are gonna hurt their bottom line,” Leffert said, noting restaurants are still rebuilding their workforce after COVID-era losses.
Other speakers tied broader spending and project priorities to the city’s revenue needs, saying the city should look for cuts rather than raise taxes that could reduce restaurant traffic. John Moss argued the proposed budget would “financially punish families” and cited meal-tax increases among the changes he opposed.
The mayor’s opening statement listed a meals tax increase from 5.5% to 6% among the items for public comment in the FY2025 hearing. No council action or vote on the meals tax is recorded in the public-comment transcript segment provided.
