Category: Government Finance
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Cruise Subsidy More Important Than Tax Relief?
The Richmond Times-Dispatch has obtained and released the most recent negotiating offer from Democrats in the Senate as the standoff between the two political parties over the state budget continues. It is contained in an on-line article that doesn’t appear to have made it into the print edition yet.
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Virginia’s New “The Stupid Party”
by Chris Braunlich From the ‘50s to the mid-‘70s, the Republican Party was known as “the stupid party” – locked in the past, making foolish decisions, promoting unwise and counterproductive policies. Today, in Virginia, “the stupid party” has returned. But it is no longer Republican. The current battle over Virginia’s budget and the prospects for…
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JLARC Report: More Than Just “Mo’ Money”
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) released a major report last month on the Commonwealth’s K-12 funding formula. The responses were predictable. On Bacon’s Rebellion, Jim Bacon dismissed the report as a cry for “mo’ money.” Democrats in the General Assembly seized upon the report and its findings as more…
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Paid In Full, State Needs to Give Us Our Change
By Barbara Hollingsworth Imagine a merchant refusing to hand over the change when a customer paid with a $20 bill for a $17.50 item. Virginians would be irate if a restaurant, bar, grocery store, or other private establishment decided to keep the change because the business might “need” the extra money in the future. Yet…
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Restoring Sales Tax Holiday is Not Tax Relief
by Steve Haner Virginia’s Democratic legislators are convinced that citizens are happy to pay taxes for state services and will rebel at the polls if taxes are cut when there are “unmet vital needs.” That is why they have so far resisted any and all proposals from Governor Glenn Youngkin and Republican legislators to split…
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Senators Cry “Voodoo Estimating” In Tax Fight
By Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institue for Public Policy. Not only are the leading Virginia Senate budget negotiators adamantly opposed to providing Virginians with additional tax relief in this election year, but they are now hinting at partial roll back of one of the major individual tax reforms approved…
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Is Hopewell the Next Petersburg?
by James A. Bacon Long-time Bacon’s Rebellion readers will remember the fiscal saga of Petersburg, a struggling rust-belt city whose finances were so mismanaged that the city had to call in outside consultants to fix them. The City of Hopewell, another struggling rust-belt industrial town, may be facing the same fate. City Council has appointed…
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Youngkin Budget Leadership Faulted
by Dick Hall-Sizemore This blog gives ample exposure to conservative bloggers Kerry Dougherty and Shaun Kenney, but not to bloggers with other perspectives. David Toscano of Charlottesville, former Democratic floor leader in the House of Delegates and the author of a book on recent Virginia politics, regularly comments on Virginia politics, which is available to…
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More Money for an “Indecipherable” K-12 Funding Formula?
by James A. Bacon Virginia public schools receive less funding from the state than the 50-state national average, less than the Mid-Atlantic regional average, and less than three of the five bordering states, says a new report from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC). The state needs to radically update its methodology for…
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Governor, GOP Not Selling Their Tax Reforms
by Steve Haner The following paragraph was written five months ago. It is reproduced now with some emphasis added. The 2023 Virginia General Assembly tax debate is just another revival of an old political show. Last year it ended well for new Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) and for those hoping to pay less in state…
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Check Out Which New Virginia Laws Go Into Effect July 1st
by The Republican Standard staff The Virginia General Assembly passed several small bills due to the split between the Republican-led House of Delegates and the Democratic-controlled Virginia State Senate. Yet the areas where they did find co-operation could matter to many Virginians as we head into Fourth of July weekend. Enhanced Penalties for Fentanyl Manufacturing…
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VRS “Diet COLA” Squeezes Pensions Second Time
by Steve Haner Virginia’s “Diet COLA” approach to calculating annual inflation increases to Virginia Retirement System pensions has constrained the increases once again. Beneficiaries will see a benefit increase of 5% effective July 1, up from the 3.85% increase they received a year ago. Both are below what they would have been if the increase…
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Light Rail: Idiotic Idea In 2016. Idiotic Idea Now.
by Kerry Dougherty Virginia Beach voters THOUGHT they drove a stake through the heart of the absurd plan to bring light rail to the city after an overwhelming vote in 2016 against the nutty, developer-driven boondoggle. But never underestimate cultists with an agenda. You know, developers who believe taxpayers have a duty to open their…
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Without Full $1B Tax Cut, Let July 1 Deadline Pass
by Steve Haner Because the federal government cannot operate without constantly borrowing money, members of Congress in both parties recently held their noses and voted for a compromise budget and borrowing deal. That need not and should not happen now in Virginia. There is no similar pressure in Virginia, even though the June 30 end…
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UVa Board Trims Next-Year Tuition by 0.7%. Big Whoop.
by James A. Bacon Responding to a Youngkin administration request for Virginia’s public colleges and universities to curb tuition increases, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors voted this morning to reduce a scheduled 3.7% tuition hike next year to 3.0%. As explained by Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis, the shaving of $5.5 million from…