Author: Steve Haner
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Steps Virginia Must Take to Tax Internet Sales
Conformity to recent federal income tax changes is not the only challenge (or opportunity, depending on your point of view) facing the 2019 Virginia General Assembly. It may also be asked to amend Virginia’s sales and use tax rules, so the tax can be demanded from out-of-state sellers. A recent review from the Tax Foundation…
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Dominion Proposal A Total Refresh, SCC Staff Says
The integrated resource plan (IRP) for Dominion Energy Virginia, pending at the State Corporation Commission, involves building or rebuilding enough generation to replace most of its existing capacity. That is one conclusion reached by the SCC staff’s own analysis of Dominion’s filed plans. A bottom line $5.6 billion estimate of the 15-year customer cost of this…
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Dominion Excess Profits Continued to Roll in 2017
During 2017 Dominion Energy Virginia earned $365 million in profits above the target return on equity the State Corporation Commission would likely have established, but of course the General Assembly regulates the utility now – not the SCC. For the year Dominion Energy’s profit margin on its Virginia operations was just under 14%, well above…
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Micron Incentives Were Behind Layne Warnings
One mystery solved: Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne was probably talking about Micron Technology in Manassas on August 17 when he warned the General Assembly about some very expensive economic development incentive package not yet announced or accounted for in the Commonwealth’s budget. Layne repeated that warning during a discussion of tax policy yesterday with…
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How Many Students Are Not In Public School?
Sometimes what we don’t know is important. Sometimes what you cannot learn is the most interesting thing. As the public schools take their annual flogging over scores on the state’s Standards of Learning test, especially discouraging in high minority and low-income jurisdictions, a question came to mind – just how many students don’t take those…
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Bacon Bits: A.P. Hill R.I.P., Tax Cuts, Bike Lanes
This statue does have to go The tomb of Confederate General A.P. Hill in Northside Richmond is the latest to be vandalized by red paint or some similar substance, but in this case the argument to move the statute and the grave beneath it should focus on its status as a major traffic hazard. The…
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Comformity Boosts Key Business Tax 40 Percent
A decision by the Virginia General Assembly to fully conform state tax rules with recent changes in federal tax law could result in major increases in state corporate income tax collections, totaling an additional $1.4 billion over six years, an outside consultant has concluded. Virginia’s corporate income tax under current rules is projected to collect…
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Has Momentum Shifted in Pipeline Battles?
The drums and whistles overpowered traffic noise at Eighth and Main this morning as a group of protesters opposing Virginia’s two natural gas pipeline projects moved away from Department of Environmental Quality headquarters, perhaps coming from a State Water Control Board hearing down the street. With both the Atlantic Coast (ACP) and Mountain Valley (MVP)…
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Weak Growth Makes Conformity Revenue Tempting
I called it correctly back in June: Conformity to federal tax reform produces a major boost in state revenue which the state’s leadership on both side of the aisle is strongly tempted to keep because the state remains strapped for cash. The signs of economic stress are all over Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne’s August…
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Full Conformity Raises $3.6B In First Five Years
Assuming the Virginia General Assembly conforms the state’s tax rules to the IRS code as it exists now, adopting intact the recent federal changes, the state will reap an additional $3.6 billion in revenue over the next five years. Almost $2.5 billion of that will come from personal income taxes, with an additional $1.1 billion…
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Oh, The Tangled Webs We Weave
Let’s not and say we did. If I had a dollar for every time I said that to some over-enthusiastic campaign worker for my candidate or some other one with some wild idea to screw with the other side…. Perhaps GOP Congressman Scott Taylor should have used the phrase, or my other favorite: Don’t do…
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The Truth Is Out There (To Be Revealed Friday)
So it’s going to be politics, not economics. Perhaps it was inevitable. On Friday Governor Ralph Northam and Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne will be presenting to the House and Senate money committees, part of their report looking back (at the completed fiscal year), but the key parts of their message looking forward. Both are…
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Trailing Spouse Benefit Proving of Minimal Impact
Virginia’s unemployment insurance (UI) trust fund continues to show improved balances despite dropping tax rates, reflecting a strengthening economy. The most recent semi-annual report, released at a legislative meeting yesterday, projects half as many initial claims during 2018 as there were five years ago: 134,000 this year versus the earlier 276,000. It the trend holds…
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Love Is A Juicy Tomato, A Ripe Melon
“We as a country have fallen out of love with healthy fruits and vegetables.” Dominic Barrett said that while sitting at a picnic table a few feet from an acre of healthy fruits and vegetables, a new urban garden in the heart of Northside Richmond created by Shalom Farms. The location is in my neighborhood…
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Specific Updates: Lobbyists, Lottery, Tuition
A few updates, clearing the decks before I disappear next week (I’m not quite as dedicated as Bacon, although I will take the laptop to Duck.) My son who blogs on University of Virginia sports is going to give me some tips. (StLouisHoo or something like that…) Specifics on Who is Not Specific The Virginia…