Category: Taxes
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Virginia Business Tax Ranking Falls Again
Virginia continues its long side in tax competitiveness this year with a No. 26 ranking in the Tax Foundation’s “2023 State Business Tax Climate Index.” That’s a decline from 25th place last year, 24th place in 2021, and 23rd place in 2020. As recently as 2017, Virginia’s business tax climate ranked 16th. After eight years…
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Ungrateful Citizens of Fairfax County
by James C. Sherlock Jeff McKay, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, can’t catch a break. Violent crime is up. The Fairfax County Police Chief has declared a police emergency for staffing. There has been a fairly brutal back and forth up there about who is responsible and who is or is not…
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Map of the Day: Corporate Tax Rates
Why does Virginia have such an also-ran economy? Perhaps one reason, among many, is that its combined state and local corporate tax rate is higher than that of 24 other states. We’re not hostile to business like, say, Illinois or New Jersey, but we’re not welcoming either. — JAB
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Next Virginia Tax Reform: Index for Inflation
by Barbara Hollingsworth Most Virginians are painfully aware that it’s becoming much more difficult to make ends meet. Prices for food, housing, gasoline and other necessities have soared. Inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1 percent in June, the largest yearly increase since January 1982. And a recent study from the University of Iowa found…
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Richmond Tax Assessments: Through the Roof
by Jon Baliles One story you will be hearing about and living through in the next week or so (if you live in the City) is that the new assessment notifications are arriving in people’s mailboxes. And they are literally though the roof. Some areas are up from 18% in the Westover Hills area and…
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What Surplus? Virginia Doesn’t Allow Surpluses!
by Steve Haner First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Does last week’s glowing report on Virginia’s state tax collections presage additional tax relief for struggling families? The first question is, was the news really glowing?
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Map of the Day: Fiscal Stress
The Commission on Local Government has published its 2022 update on the fiscal condition of Virginia localities. No surprises here — the same geographical patterns hold as in the past. The most stressed localities are uniformly cities, and the most stressed are small cities. The least stressed are counties in Northern Virginia and on the…
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Turbocharged: Fairfax Car Tax Burden
by Bill Tracy Fairfax County just mailed out its 2022 Car Tax bills, and the tax increase is substantial. The Board of Supervisors granted us a 15% discount off of the inflated 2022 Blue Book vehicle values. That’s nice, but it looks like the Board failed to mention that the car tax was increasing for…
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Too Much Money for Roads?!?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Although gas prices have receded substantially from the levels that sent everyone into a tizzy earlier this year, Governor Youngkin has not given up on his proposal to lower gas taxes. Now, however, his rationale for the cut is different. According to veteran reporter Dave Ress, in an article that appeared in…
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Need a New Corset? You’re in Luck!
by Kerry Dougherty Got a gangster in your family? How about a dominatrix? An altar boy? Well, good news for all of them. Starting today and running through Sunday at midnight they can buy items they desperately need like bandanas, corsets and altar outfits. All without paying Virginia sales tax. Yep, it’s the commonwealth’s annual…
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Blacks Don’t Always Think the Way White Cultural Elites Think They Do
by James A. Bacon Governor Glenn Youngkin’s popularity in Virginia was the top-line story from a new Virginia Commonwealth University poll. The survey, published yesterday, found that 49% of Virginians polled approve of his job as governor compared to 38% who disapprove. It’s not surprising to see his popularity holding up so well. Virginians tend…
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Love that Budget Surplus! Use It to Bullet-Proof State Finances.
by James A. Bacon There’s good news for Virginia on the fiscal front. We need to make the most of it. The Old Dominion closed fiscal 2022 with a $1.94 billion General Fund revenue surplus, Governor Glenn Youngkin announced yesterday. Total revenue rose 16.3% from the previous fiscal year. “Fiscal 2022 was an extraordinary year…
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Taxation Through Misrepresentation
by Arthur G. Purves Around June 28 Fairfax County homeowners will get their real estate tax bill, which is due July 28. The typical homeowner’s real estate tax bill will increase by $484, or 6.8%, from $7,159 to $7,643. Around Sept. 5, Fairfax County car owners will get their personal property tax bill, which is…
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Dropping? Nope, Gas Tax Now Rises July 1
by Steve Haner Virginia’s gasoline and diesel taxes will rise 7% on July 1, about three more cents per gallon when all the elements of the tax are combined. This is the inflation-driven cost of living adjustment which Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) and most legislative Republicans tried to short circuit, but which was preserved by…
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Only Part of the Gas Tax Would Be Suspended
by Steve Haner The gas tax in Virginia today is 33.8 cents per gallon and the diesel tax is 34.7 cents per gallon. The fresh proposal from Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) for a 90-day suspension of those taxes does not eliminate Virginia’s full fuel tax bite. The oft-ignored wholesale tax will remain while only the…