Hey, Roanoke City Council: The Tax on Mediums Is Absurd

Tracey Lockwood

I just ran into this odd little posting on Facebook by a medium named Tracey Lockwood and thought I'd pass it along because it is a sincere effort to stir things up. I don't have much of an opinion on mediums (though I have strong opinions on media), but I have some thoughts on being fair. And this don't strike me as fair.

Small business taxes should reflect the income of the business and a $1,000 tax on a one-person operation like this is the government's way of expressing disapproval of an activity on which it should have no opinion. It's none of Roanoke City Council's business what psychics and mediums are doing as a requested service, so long as those services don't hurt anybody. And I don't think you're going to find any evidence of mediums hurting anybody.

Are they legit? I don't know, but you can ask that about a lot of activities that are taxed at a fair rate. Pro wrestling, for example. Legit? Taxed fairly? OK, that's an extreme example, but that's what I was looking for.

City Council needs to be paying attention to roads and gutters and trash pickup and whether or not it wants to sell our heritage and our communities to the highest bidder, and stop trying--like so many levels of government are trying--to stick its nose where it doesn't belong.

Here's the FB posting--italics mine--I referred to (please ignore the all-caps; it's annoying, but harmless):

DO YOU THINK ITS FAIR? that Psychics, Astrologers, Clairvoyants, Tarot Readers, Mediums and Angel Readers HAVE TO PAY $1000 (one thousand dollars) a YEAR to have a business license in Roanoke? This is roughly equal to a business earning close to $5,000,000 (five million) in sales...

PLEASE JOIN Medium Tracey Lockwood Monday March 17th in City Council Chambers to hear her appeal to Council for an equalization of this tax...

The current ANNUAL fee for a practitioner of Astrology, Tarot, Psychic Readings, Angel Readings, Mediumship or Intuitive Counseling in Roanoke is $1200.00... yes... one thousand and two hundred DOLLARS... a year!

Medium Tracey Lockwood has been advocating an equalization of this special taxation fee with the members of City Council to $50/year plus taxation according to actual earnings.

7:00 PM on Monday March 17th ST PATRICK'S DAY in Council Chambers (4th floor) Medium Tracey Lockwood will be defending the right of intuitive practitioners to be billed just like any other business... and not the proposed change to $1000 which is the State cap limit.

It is up to the local municipality to determine what to charge an individual business owner... YOUR QUIET PRESENCE at this meeting will make a WORLD of difference!

BE the Change... Joiin Medium Tracey Lockwood in ridding the City of this unfair and archaic business licensure fee.

The address for the 4th floor Coucil Chamber is 215 Church Ave SW Roanoke VA 24011

RSVP to email makeawonderfulday@gmail.com if you are able to attend.and PLEASE FORWARD to anyone you think might be affected by this!
Love, Light and Laughter,
Medium Tracey Lockwood