Category: Taxes
-
Virginians May Be Asked to Vote for Higher Taxes
by Rich Tucker Do you want higher taxes? Local politicians may soon give many Virginia residents a chance to answer that question for themselves. Earlier this year, state Sen. L. Louise Lucas introduced a bill that would have allowed all local governments to impose an additional 1% sales tax on top of existing levies. At…
-
No Queens: Stop Tyranny in Virginia
From pot to pork, the Democrats’ budget will cost every Virginia adult an extra $3,880. by Victoria Mannning Virginia’s state motto, “Sic Semper Tyrannis,” or “Thus Always to Tyrants,” declares that virtue and just governance always defeat tyranny. Yet Virginia Democrat leaders have become the tyrants. Led by Gov. Abigail Spanberger, they ignore the Constitution…
-
Virginia’s Gas Tax Increase: What Drivers Need to Know
by Rich Tucker Drivers in the commonwealth will pay more for gas beginning on Wednesday. This isn’t because of the recent legislative budget deal. It isn’t because of a war in the Middle East. It isn’t because of a pipeline shutdown. It’s because lawmakers put tax policy on cruise control years ago, and prices just…
-
Thanks to Heat Wave, RGGI Will Bite Fast and Hard
by Steve Haner There is some irony in how Virginia will reenter the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme on Wednesday just as a long and deep heatwave begins. It is safe to predict that every RGGI-covered coal and natural gas generation plant in the state will be running full tilt until next…
-
Coop Customers (But Not NOVEC) May Now Get RGGI Rebates
by Steve Haner Governor Abigail Spanberger’s proposed amendment to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative rebate system will give most but not all residential customers of Virginia’s rural electric cooperatives a shot at some cash back. The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative is still in the RGGI wilderness. The feeding frenzy over the RGGI carbon tax dollars,…
-
Assembly To Data Centers: “Here’s Your Hat, There’s the Door”
by Steve Haner The energy regulatory provisions buried in the final conference report on Virginia’s 2026-2028 budget, approved by the General Assembly Monday, are as complex and detailed as any of the energy bills reviewed earlier during the regular session. They are also just as damaging. The data center industry was a particular target. The…
-
RGGI Rebates for Some Ordered in New Budget Language
The pending conference report on adopting a new Virginia state budget includes a process to rebate the cost of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative’s carbon tax, but only to smaller customers and only if their utility is charging them for it directly. Larger energy users, especially the largest industrial, commercial and data customers, will still…
-
Data Centers Will Pay Same Tax on Solar Power as on Coal
by Steve Haner The new energy tax being imposed on Virginia’s data center industry effective July 1, assuming the new state budget conference report passes next week, is totally ecumenical. The same tax is imposed on electrons from a solar panel or wind turbine as is imposed on electrons from coal. A data center that…
-
Surf’s Up! And So’s Exposure to Virginia Beach Taxpayers
The biggest wave generated by the city’s Atlantic Park project is debt. The promised tax revenues aren’t sufficient yet to support it. by James C. Sherlock From an article by Stacy Parker in The Virginian-Pilot this morning: To build two parking garages and improve streets in Atlantic Park, a public entity borrowed $53 million and…
-
Virginia on the Brink
by Kerry Dougherty With Virginia’s top two Democrat females mud wrestling in Richmond, it’s time to think about what a Virginia state government shutdown might look like. With 13 days to get a budget, the unthinkable may actually happen: Virginia government may shut down because the Democrats fundamentally don’t like each other. None of us…
-
Rebating Spanberger’s RGGI Tax Won’t Erase RGGI’s Cost Impact
by Steve Haner Virginia’s return to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) will produce such an explosion of new tax revenue and will cause such major increases in consumer electricity costs, a political feeding frenzy is beginning to erupt over the money. A legislative study panel heavily controlled by Democrats who voted for Virginia’s return to RGGI…
-
Virginia’s Deceptive Gas Tax Continues to Confuse, Rises Again
By Steve Haner, Virginia’s gasoline taxes rise again on July 1, a continuing legacy of former Governor Ralph Northam’s most taxing term. He signed the 2020 bill calling for annual gas tax adjustments for inflation, so the combined taxes will rise from 41.6 cents per gallon to 42.4 cents per gallon. It was a bipartisan…
-
RGGI Will Cost Typical Dominion Customer $13 More Per Month
By Steve Haner, Dominion Energy Virginia is proposing to delay until March 2027 to bill its customers for the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon allowances it must buy starting July 1. When the cost hits, however, it could be $13 a month or $156 per year for a typical residential customer. The final decision…
-
With Tax Now $35 Per Ton, Are RGGI Rebates on the Way?
by Steve Haner The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) held its second 2026 carbon allowance auction last week and the bidding cleared at $35 per ton, the group announced Friday. That price was a 40 percent increase over the $25 per ton set for the carbon tax just three months earlier and was 78 percent higher…