Author: Steve Haner
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Virginia Should Double Its Standard Deduction
In 1987, as part of its response to the conformity issues created by President Reagan’s tax cut, the Virginia General Assembly increased the standard deduction available to Virginia taxpayers to $3,000 for an individual and $5,000 for a couple. At some point since the joint filing amount went up to $6,000 to eliminate any marriage…
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Rural Virginia Does Not Need A Marshall Plan
In devastated post-war Europe, millions of people were qualified and eager for jobs or desperate for capital to get their farms planted and harvested. In demographically-diminishing rural Virginia, farms are mechanized. If you build a huge factory today qualified workers may not come in sufficient numbers. A scaled-down 21st Century Marshall Plan is a nice…
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Transparency? No, Alignment Drives PAC Decisions
Abigail Spanberger won’t take money from corporate political action committees but will from ideological political action committees because the issue PACs have their position statements on their web pages. Spanberger said that Friday to a business organization that donates no political money, Virginia FREE, but there were plenty of big donors or their representatives in…
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This Certainly Demonstrates Something (Don’t Ask)
Under normal circumstances, building two wind turbines 27 miles off the coast of Virginia at a cost of $300 million would be neither reasonable nor prudent. They may produce the most expensive 12 megawatts of electricity in Virginia history. The only rational reason to go forward is to test technology which is becoming more common…
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Decisions on a New House Plan May Start Today
The House of Delegates Privileges and Elections Committee meets this afternoon to consider several competing proposals for a new House of Delegates district map, all having proponents who claim they will satisfy demands from a federal court. Setting aside the politics and hypocrisy on both sides, when I see the Virginia Public Access Project’s displays…
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A Thumb On The Scale for ACP?
A witness to whom Dominion Energy Virginia had vehemently objected, Gregory Lander of a company called Skipping Stone, had his time on the stand anyway at the State Corporation Commission Tuesday. His testimony might still be stricken, but the two commissioners and everybody else in the room heard it and then a lengthy cross-examination underlined…
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Dominion Objects to Testimony on Pipeline Cost
One of the first decisions the State Corporation Commission may need to make in Monday’s hearing on the Dominion Energy Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) is whether to allow and consider testimony about the cost of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Dominion filed a September 7 motion asking that testimony from a witness brought by Appalachian Voices…
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Hurricane Response Challenged By State Senators
On Monday, Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne talked about the cost of Virginia’s response to Hurricane Florence with little controversy, and that was before the storm spawned a series of tornadoes striking Mecklenburg County and Metro Richmond. Thursday, after Florence visited Virginia directly, he made the same presentation to another committee and suddenly ran into…
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VA CPAs Say Conform, Hold Tax Funds for Later
The Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA) Monday called on the 2019 Virginia General Assembly to conform Virginia tax with recent federal changes, to track and sequester the hundreds of millions of dollars in higher taxes thus generated and to hold those funds for a future tax reform effort. Nobody knows these issues better…
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Chain Reaction: Tuition Rises Due To Higher Tuition
Increased pay for faculty and administrators is one of the major cost drivers behind the continuing climb in tuition and fee charges, a member of the House Appropriations Committee staff told that committee Monday. As those charges climb, the universities are also increasing the percentage of tuition revenue used to provide financial aid for students…
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Who Were the Puerto Rico 3,000; How Did They Die?
So, who were those 3,000 Puerto Ricans who died because of Hurricane Maria last year? What killed them? The storm down south and the controversy swirling over our illustrious President’s defensive tweet sent me searching for data. It turns out there is no list of names. There is no accounting of what causes of death…
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A Model Transfer Program That Should Be Copied
Under prodding from the General Assembly that goes back years, Virginia’s four-year institutions are finally developing an easier path from community college to a bachelor’s degree. Unfortunately for students, it is spreading slowly. Unfortunately for anybody obstructing the process, there is one place where the full potential is being realized and proving the concept. The…
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Looks like a Taking, Feels like a Taking
The parallel struck me early in the meeting – this is like the pipeline process. The people who want this bike lane are not deterred by what it does to the people and businesses directly on the route and disregard all concerns as unfounded. Of course, the property owners along Richmond’s Brook Road do not…
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Dump the Nonsense in Coming Conformity Debate
Mr. Chairman, I seek permission to revise and extend my remarks – in this case a guest column in today’s Washington Post on the topic of income tax conformity. For about a month now the inbox has been filling up with nonsense (and some wisdom) from across the political spectrum over the causes, impact and…
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Northam To Ask Again To Spend Carbon Fees
Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Matthew Strickler told a legislative commission today the Governor will again ask the General Assembly to keep and spend the proceeds of a new electricity carbon tax, rather than find a way to return it to ratepayers. Strickler pointed to Senate Bill 696 and its companion House Bill 1273, defeated…