Fairfax City’s proposed 16.9% property tax hike isn’t happening in isolation. It’s part of a regional assault on your finances.

While Elon Musk and the federal DOGE team uncover billions in wasteful spending in Washington, Northern Virginia homeowners face a different kind of government efficiency—the ruthlessly efficient extraction of wealth from your wallet.

Fairfax City’s proposed 16.9% property tax hike isn’t happening in isolation. It’s part of a regional assault on your finances. Arlington County wants another 2 cents per $100. Alexandria’s pushing for 1.5 cents more. Loudoun County eyes increases despite already having the region’s deepest tax coffers.

The pattern isn’t subtle: Take more, spend more, explain less.

The DOGE Revolution They Don’t Want You to See

In just weeks, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has identified over $100 billion in federal waste and fraud. The team has exposed:

• Ghost employees collecting paychecks
• Bloated contracts with no deliverables
• Duplicate programs across agencies
• Administrative empires built on bureaucratic self-protection

Yet Northern Virginia politicians resist bringing this same ruthless efficiency to local government. Why? Because transparency threatens the power structure that keeps them comfortably insulated from accountability.

The Truth They’re Hiding

When Fairfax City Manager Bryan Foster admits the $71.4 million school budget is “not sustainable” but raises your taxes anyway, he’s telling you something profound: The system is broken, but you—not the system—will pay the price for that brokenness.

If DOGE principles were applied locally, citizens would demand:

1. Independent forensic audits of every department before any tax increase
2. Line-by-line disclosure of how current tax dollars are spent
3. Elimination of administrative redundancy before reaching into homeowners’ pockets
4. Competitive bidding on contracts currently awarded to politically-connected firms

But one-party Democratic rule has removed the natural check of political competition. In gerrymandered districts across Northern Virginia, officials answer to party extremists, not taxpayers.

The Human Cost of Their Protection Racket

While politicians shuffle budget papers in comfortable chambers, real families make painful choices:

• Seniors on fixed incomes choose between medication and keeping their homes
• Young families abandon dreams of homeownership entirely
• Small business owners work longer hours while taking home less pay

This isn’t governance. It’s extraction—systemic, coordinated, and protected by the very officials sworn to represent you.

Why They’ll Fight a Local DOGE

Watch the panic spread across local officials’ faces at the mere suggestion of bringing DOGE-level scrutiny to Northern Virginia budgets:

“We’re different from the federal government,” they’ll insist—as if waste magically disappears at the local level.

“We don’t have the resources for such audits,” they’ll claim—while spending millions on consultants who produce reports that gather dust.

“This would delay important public services,” they’ll warn—while continuing to fund programs that serve bureaucratic interests rather than community needs.

Their resistance reveals everything: The system isn’t broken—it’s working exactly as designed.

The Path Forward: Make DOGE Non-Negotiable

When officials hold their performative “public hearings” on tax increases in the coming weeks, don’t just complain about the rates. Demand DOGE-level scrutiny as a precondition for any revenue discussion:

• No tax increase without independent waste audits
• No rate hikes without binding efficiency requirements
• No additional burden without dollar-for-dollar waste reduction

In just weeks, Musk’s team found $100 billion in federal waste. Imagine what they’d find in Northern Virginia’s tangled web of local governments, school systems, and special authorities.

The political class fears this scrutiny more than any budget shortfall—because it threatens not just their spending, but their power.

Until we break the Democratic stranglehold on Northern Virginia and bring DOGE-level transparency to local government, your wallet remains their emergency fund. And in one-party Northern Virginia, fiscal emergencies are perpetual.

We see you, local power brokers. And like DOGE, we’re not looking away.