Category: Taxes
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RGGI Reg Repealed, But RGGI Tax Returns to Bills
by Steve Haner Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board voted Wednesday to remove Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, keeping Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin’s promise to eliminate the related carbon tax that has been imposed on electricity ratepayers under RGGI since January 2021. The bad news is the tax itself won’t disappear until at the…
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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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Read It and Weep – DEI at UVa
by James C. Sherlock Kerry Daugherty’s column this morning was heart-wrenching for anyone who cares at all about kids’ educations. The Norfolk School Board voted 6-1… to begin teaching gender ideology, masturbation, sexual identity, homosexuality, abortion and lesbianism in middle and high schools. To kids who cannot read or perform mathematics at grade level. Now…
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As U.S. Teeters On the Brink of Recession, Virginia Beach Hikes Taxes
by Kerry Dougherty Do you mind if I’m brutally honest for a minute? Good. Because there’s no stopping me today. Any member of the Virginia Beach City Council majority who voted Tuesday to approve an obscene $2.5 billion budget as the country teeters on the edge of a recession is a liar if they try…
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Gas Taxes, EV Fees Will Rise Again July 1
by Steve Haner Virginia motor fuel taxes will rise again July 1, to just over 39 cents per gallon on gasoline and just over 40 cents per gallon on diesel. This will be the second automatic increase in gas taxes since the 2020 General Assembly voted to index the gas tax to inflation.
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Sens. Warner, Kaine Visit Roanoke To Tout New Bridge But City Council In The Dark About Scope of Project
by Scott Dreyer On a picture-perfect April 12 with a backdrop of the sparkling Roanoke River and dogwoods and redbuds in bloom, Virginia’s Senator Mark Warner (D) and Senator Tim Kaine (D) visited the Roanoke Greenway at Roanoke City’s Smith Park. The occasion was for the two senators to present a cardboard poster representing a…
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RGGI Repeal Debate Rages on Comment Portal
by Steve Haner Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board is continuing through the necessary steps to repeal Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional compact that imposes an allowance cost (carbon tax) on fossil fuels used in generating electricity. During 2021 and 2022, the tax collected about half a billion dollars from…
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In Virginia Beach: Hang On to Your Wallets
by Kerry Dougherty How to ruin an otherwise lovely early spring-like weekend, Virginia Beach-style: Send out real estate assessments that show double-digit increase in the value of property (that’s a good thing, by the way) and a huge jump in taxes. That’s not good. Yep, many of us opened our mail on Saturday and wished…
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Richmond’s Skinny Budget: Low Stakes Poker, High Stakes Rhetoric
by Shaun Kenney Virginia’s General Assembly managed to pass the Richmond equivalent of a continuing resolution to fund the government until Senate Democrats and House Republicans can hammer out a compromise on corporate tax breaks. One will have to pardon me for not getting terribly wound up about tax breaks for corporations while small businesses…
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Focus on the Standard Deduction, QBI Deduction
We have seen this before in Virginia and here we go again: the classic conflict between tax cuts for the many versus more government spending for a few. The Republican-dominated House of Delegates has passed a series of broad tax reductions, while the Democratic-dominated Virginia Senate has killed its versions of the same bills. Last…
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Will McDonald’s Be Leaving Virginia? Not This year, But…
by Chris Saxman I wish the headline of today’s column was just click bait. It originates from a headline that was pushed across my phone that read “Will McDonald’s be leaving California?” That immediately made me think that McDonald’s corporate offices might be considering moving their headquarters from California to another state. Given the exodus…
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Dominion Seeks Return of RGGI Tax to Its Bills
by Steve Haner The on again, off again, direct tax on Dominion Energy Virginia bills to pay for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) may be on again. If you feel like you are watching a shell game and just cannot find the pea, that is intentional. In its sales pitch for its latest effort…
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Five Reasons the Assembly Should Cut Taxes
By Barbara Hollingsworth Last week, the Republican majority in the Virginia House of Delegates passed a $1 billion package of tax cuts for individuals and businesses, the centerpiece of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s economic agenda. But Democrats, who have a 22-18 majority in the state Senate, have a laundry list of policies and programs they would…
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New Youngkin Tax Cuts Total $7 Billion By 2028
by Steve Haner The set of Virginia tax changes Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) has baked into his proposed 2023 budget amendments is far more extensive and involves substantially more tax relief than the descriptions he offered in his December 15 presentation.
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Youngkin Delivers Early Christmas Gift
by Barbara Hollingsworth (This column was first published by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.) Virginians received an early Christmas present this year. For four years, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy has been strongly urging state officials in Virginia to lighten what has become a steadily increasing tax burden on residents and…