Category: Taxes
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Time to Cut Taxes
by Stephen D. Haner If Virginia ended the fiscal year June 30 with a general fund cash surplus of $2 billion, almost 10 percent of its annual budget, that means taxes are too high. Period. The debate for the 2021 political season should be how to cut taxes, and how much. The $2 billion projection…
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Northam’s Hidden 40% Gasoline Tax Hike
Did you know that last year Virginia’s tax on gasoline increased 5 cents per gallon, on July 1, 2020, from 24.4 cents to 29.4 cents? Did you know that this year Virginia’s tax on gasoline is increasing again, by another 5 cents per gallon on July 1, 2021, to 34.4 cents? That is a 40%…
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What to Do with Virginia’s Pile O’ Money
by James A. Bacon Virginia is expected to close out the year with a $2 billion budget surplus. An estimated $900 million is required under the state constitution to go into a rainy day reserve fund. That leaves roughly $1.1 billion for the next General Assembly and Governor of Virginia to play with. According to…
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With Defeat in Connecticut, Will Virginia Drop TCI?
By Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Why do Virginia’s leaders run away from the Transportation and Climate Initiative? Could it be because the first state legislature to consider it, in reliably Democratic Connecticut, just adjourned without even taking a vote on the proposed carbon tax compact, despite…
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State Revenue Up a Full Third in Northam Years
by Steve Haner With one month to go in its fiscal year, Virginia has almost met its General Fund revenue target in the first eleven months, as the revenue bonanza described here before continues. Partly it is due to the strong economic recovery post-COVID, but it is also due to numerous increased tax rates or…
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Businesses Taxed For Somebody Else’s Layoffs?
by Steve Haner So many Virginia employers faltered or failed during 2020, the remaining companies may be charged a special tax of $95 on each of their own employees in 2022. It will cover the unemployment benefits paid to workers somebody else laid off, the highest so called “pool tax” ever imposed, more than double…
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That’s Our Money. Give It Back.
by Kerry Dougherty We’re rich! Really rich. Rolling in dough kind of rich. Perhaps you heard: Against all odds, Virginia is ending the fiscal year $500 million in the black. On top of that, state officials are drooling over another $4.3 billion in federal loot that is expected to drop momentarily. Wait. There’s more. Any…
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Protect Taxpaying Virginians From Coming Inflation
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. One of big financial winners with the May 1 Virginia minimum wage increase is the state itself, because the entire raise is subject to a 5% state income tax. With its low standard deduction and personal exemption amounts, Virginia squeezes…
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State Tax Harvest Under Northam Expands Again
by Steve Haner With the release today of the April 2021 Virginia state revenue report, a correction in an earlier post becomes necessary. Overall general fund state tax collections are not up 26% so far compared to four years ago, they are up almost 30 percent. Corporate income tax collections are not up 68%, but…
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TCI Debate Rages in Comments on Proposed Rule
by Steve Haner The political wannabes in both parties and the state’s media are continuing to ignore it, but the argument over the proposed motor fuel carbon tax called the Transportation and Climate Initiative rages in comments on the proposal flowing into its advocates. The Thomas Jefferson Institute has also launched a short video (above),…
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Virginia Taxes New Firms Higher, NC the Opposite
by Steve Haner Virginia is far more tax friendly to established businesses than it is to new ones. That’s one major conclusion of a major state-by-state business tax comparison released today (here) by the Tax Foundation and KPMG LLC. In neighboring North Carolina, on the other hand, the tax structure encourages new investment with…
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Corporate Tax Already Exploding in Virginia
by Steve Haner First published this morning in The Roanoke Times. With Virginia’s fiscal year now three-quarters complete, and basically one year since the depths of the COVID-19 recession, state tax revenues are soaring. Despite reports that the boom results from the economic rebound, it remains clear that changes in tax policy under Governor Ralph…
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TCI Model Rule Ready for Study, Comment
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. (Happy birthday, Mr. President.) Read the governing document for the Transportation and Climate Initiative and it becomes clear there is more going on than just an effort to reduce motor fuel use with a combination of taxes and shrinking caps. That…
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Fairfax County Should Be Renamed Fairtax County… Er, Make that Unfairtax County
Sales prices for houses have been soaring across the country — by double digits in many metropolitan areas — and so are real estate property assessments. When assessments go up, so do taxes, unless city councils and county boards lower tax rates. In the current environment, holding a tax rate steady amounts to a tax…
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May Day Brings Virginia’s Labor Revolution
by Steve Haner Four major changes in Virginia’s labor laws delayed at the beginning of the COVID-19 recession will all take effect May 1. All were approved by the 2020 General Assembly once Democrats controlled both legislative chambers and then delayed at the 2020 Veto Session. May Day 2021 is almost here. Minimum Wage. The…