Category: Taxes
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After Santa Comes Carbon Tax Sugar Daddy
by Steve Haner The Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources will be the sugar daddy for the carbon tax dollars raised from electricity customers, according to pending legislation to fully enroll Virginia in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) next year. House Bill 20, sponsored by Norfolk Democrat Joe Lindsey, is similar (with some changes) to…
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The Carbon Car Tax Nobody Is Discussing
By Steve Haner So far there appear to be about six schemes before the 2020 General Assembly to save the Earth and its inhabitants from the fiery holocaust of climate catastrophe. The one that is going to cost you the most money in the shortest period of time is still missing in action. Finally we…
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Taxpayers “Clinging” to their Income in a Moderately Taxed State
by James A. Bacon In his budget roll out yesterday Governor Ralph Northam proposed hikes to tobacco and gasoline taxes and a clawback to taxpayer relief fund enacted last year in response to changes in the federal income tax code — an increase in the tax burden well in excess of a half billion dollars…
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The Mo’ Money Mountain Grows Ever Bigger
In his latest budgetary proposal, Governor Ralph Northam has proposed returning $733 million to Virginia taxpayers… Oh, wait a minute. I guess I misread the announcement. It seems he’s proposing $733 million in new spending to protect the environment and fight climate change. That’s on top of advocating Virginia’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas…
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Watch Out! Here Comes a Gas Tax Hike!
by James A. Bacon Bacon’s Rebellion predicted that the change of political power in the General Assembly from red to blue would bring a raft of proposals for tax increases and revenue enhancements. Because the General Fund is expected to see healthy revenue growth in the next biennial budget, I speculated that the Northam administration…
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In Failure, the GOP Has an Opportunity to Reinvent Itself
by James A. Bacon So, the Republicans have wrapped up their annual “Advance” — a retreat at the Omni Homestead resort in Bath County. And if reports of the two newspapers that covered the event are to be believed — one from the Washington Post and one from the Roanoke Times — GOP leaders have…
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Conformity Article Errata, Semi-Mea Culpa
I got enough of importance wrong in yesterday’s post on state income tax policy that a real correction is required, not just a tweak to the existing previous post. Herewith what I know I got wrong: As Dick Hall-Sizemore pointed out, correcting me in a comment, the 2019 provision creating a new Taxpayer Relief Fund…
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Games Still Played with “Conformity Windfall”
By Steve Haner Sometimes you have to start the victory lap, even if you only get halfway around the track. A year ago, on Bacon’s Rebellion and in Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy organs, I was beating the drum for a proposal to double the state’s standard deduction, the amount of family income exempt…
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Virginia tax increases: Outlook for 2020
By Don Rippert Promises, promises. As Virginia’s new Democratic majority in the General Assembly starts to take power, three issues emerge. First, many of the winning Democratic candidates promised deeper and broader social benefits from the state. Expanded Medicaid, more money for K-12, more money for higher education, more money for green initiatives, etc. Second,…
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Raise My Tax, Please
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The voters in one of the most conservative and rural parts of the state recently acted contrary to stereotype and voted to raise their taxes. Furthermore, that action was made possible by legislation sponsored by their Republican delegate in the General Assembly Halifax County has been wrestling for several years with the…
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Map of the Day: Median Housing Values
The StatChat blog has published a fascinating map showing the median value of owner-occupied housing across Virginia by census tract. The map appears as part of an essay on the relationship between housing affordability and school quality, which I may blog about later. But in the meantime, I thought the map was worth publishing on…
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Why Can’t I Have My Cake And Eat It Too?
Sometimes the tensions and contradictions in our public discourse are summed up with stunning simplicity. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has been running a series setting out the answers of candidates for local office to a set of standard questions. Today the spotlight was on Hanover County. The answers of a long-time incumbent on the Board of…
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Taxes Likely to Go up in Virginia
by Hans Bader Taxes are likely to increase in Virginia after the Democrats take control of its state legislature this fall. Democratic spending proposals would add at least a billion dollars annually to the state budget. These costly proposals can’t be paid for without raising taxes, because the cost of existing state programs is already…
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Virginia Cheap with Incentives… Back in 2012
by James A. Bacon According to an in-depth study based on 2012 data, Virginia dedicated a lower percentage of its GDP to economic-development incentives than all but three of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Old Dominion’s $57 million in incentives that year amounted to a measly .0133% of the state’s economy…
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How Should We Tax Electric Vehicles?
by James A. Bacon Electric vehicles (EVs) are commonly touted as a necessary part of America’s green energy future: Shifting from cars powered by gasoline-combustion to cars powered by 100% clean electricity will cut CO2 emissions (and other pollutants) implicated in global warming. Virginia ranks among the states with the lowest EV market share. But…