Governor Terry McAuliffe announced yesterday a package of tax cut and credit proposals to improve Virginia’s business climate and stimulate economic growth.
A proposed reduction in the corporate income tax rate from 6% to 5.75% would generate nearly $64 million in tax relief for Virginia businesses over two years, while other proposals would create incentives for research and development and early-stage financing, including:
- Creation of a new R&D Tax Credit with a $15 million cap to benefit companies spending more than $5 million annual in research spending.
- Increasing the statewide cap for an existing R&D Tax Credit by $1 million to $7 million.
- Increasing the cap on Virginia’s Angel Investor Tax Credit by $4 million to $9 million.
The proposals come at a time when Virginia’s ranking in national business climate surveys has fallen steadily from a once-lofty perch. In a press release, McAuliffe specifically cited competitive pressure from North Carolina, a perennial rival in the competition for corporate investment, which has reduced its corporate tax rate from 6.9% to 5% in the past two years. The rate is scheduled to drop to 4% next year.
Bacon’s bottom line: While these tax cuts may be regarded as incremental and “small ball” in scale, they are cuts. Virginia has seen little but tax hikes over the past decade. Add up these initiatives, and they amount to $84 million. When’s the last time Virginia cut business taxes by $84 million? I can’t even remember. Good for McAuliffe.
One more point: The governor, who loves to wheel and deal, could have proposed an increase to the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, used to sweeten corporate investment deals, but he didn’t. As his press release notes, “The broad-based tax proposal will provide significant benefits for all corporations rather than selecting winners and losers.” Once again, good for him.
Update: Michael Cassidy with the Commonwealth Institute reminds me that there have been several business tax cuts/credits over the past 10 years: elimination of the estate tax ($140 million annually), cutting estate tax for multi-state manufacturing companies ($59 million annually), sales tax exemption for data centers ($7 million annually), and film tax credit expansion ($6.5 million annually).
— JAB
