Tag: Hans Bader
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Amazon Data Centers Now Use Less Water
Plus, in Virginia they spawn tax cuts for homeowners. by Hans Bader Amazon’s data centers are using water more efficiently than in the past. A company report shows that “Amazon’s data centers used just 0.12 liters of water per kilowatt-hour of compute in 2025, about one-seventh of the industry average and less than half of Amazon’s rate…
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Mandated Public-Sector Unions Will Drive Up Property Taxes
by the Liberty Unyielding staff In Virginia, the Democratic state legislature is likely to adopt legislation that requires local governments to engage in collective bargaining with public-employee unions. If the local government and the union can’t agree on a big wage hike, an arbitrator will still be able to order the big wage hike if the arbitrator…
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Bill Would Effectively Abolish Life Without Parole
by the Liberty Unyielding staff When Virginia abolished the death penalty in 2021, Virginians were assured that it wasn’t needed, because the worst murderers could be given life sentences without the possibility of parole. But soon, even the worst killers could be released. Legislation has been introduced to allow all prison inmates serving long sentences…
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Keeping up with Mamdani
Like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, some Virginia Democrats want to achieve “affordability” through rent control. by Hans Bader In Virginia, some legislators want to give local governments the ability to impose cumbersome rent controls on housing. That’s a mistake. Rent control killed multifamily housing construction in Maryland’s most populous county. Getting rid of…
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Data Centers Provide Property Tax Relief for Homeowners
by Hans Bader Data centers cut property taxes on homeowners, by providing lots of additional property to tax. The more property there is to tax, the less tax needs to be imposed on each property. Data centers use very few government services (unlike homeowners, who use things like schools and parks), so data centers don’t…
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Parole Bill Would Usurp Governor’s Appointment Powers, Release Dangerous Inmates
by Hans Bader A progressive Virginia legislator apparently thinks the parole board isn’t releasing enough inmates. So he has introduced a bill, HB318, that would let progressive legislators, rather than the governor, pick many of the parole board’s members. His bill would also make it much easier to parole inmates serving life sentences — which…
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A State Income Tax Rate to 10% for $1 Million-per-Year Households?
by Hans Bader Delegate Kelly Convirs-Fowler, D-Virginia Beach, has introduced a bill (HB 188) to increase state income taxes in Virginia, raising the marginal tax rate from 5.75% to 10% on people making over $1 million. Virginia already has higher state income taxes than most of its neighbors. Kentucky has a maximum tax rate of…
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Trump Lost the Virginia Elections for Republicans
by Hans Bader The GOP was crushed in the recent Virginia elections because Donald Trump is terribly unpopular in Virginia. Before Trump was president, the GOP easily controlled the Virginia state legislature, and held 66 of the 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates. After Tuesday’s election, it will hold only 34 seats in…
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Dems Will Likely Raise Taxes If They Win Tomorrow
by Hans Bader Last May, Virginia’s Republican Governor, Glenn Youngkin, vetoed a bill to allow all counties to raise the sales tax by 1%. Virginia’s Democratic legislature tried to override his veto, but fell short of the two-thirds vote needed to do so, in a 25-to-15 vote in the state senate. Analysts said most local…
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Under Youngkin, Virginia Cut Permitting Times, Attracted $125 Billion in Investment
by Hans Bader “Under Governor Glenn Youngkin, Virginia created a new permitting dashboard, and cut permit processing times by 72%. The state’s attracted $125 billion in capital investment since 2022. Conservative abundance at work,” notes Russ Greene of Stand Together. The National Review adds that under Youngkin, Virginia “occupational license approval times declined from 33…
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Youngkin Regulatory Reforms Saved $1.2 Billion a Year
by Hans Bader “With just 4 employees” in his regulatory office, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has “saved residents $1.2 billion per year” and “reduced cost of building a new house by $24,000,” by eliminating more than a quarter of Virginia’s regulations, says Dominic Pino of the National Review. Under Youngkin, “occupational license approval times declined…
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Legislators Kill Bill to Modify Certificate of Public Need
by Hans Bader Legislators in a subcommittee killed a bill in the Virginia legislature would reform the state’s obsolete and costly certificate-of-need laws, which require state permission for healthcare facilities even in badly underserved areas. Cardinal News reports: Legislation put forth by state Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, to reduce regulations in accessing machinery, equipment…
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Rent Control Bill Would Hurt Housing Stock
by Hans Bader Raising rent to keep up with inflation isn’t what most people would consider “rent gouging,” even when the landlord has to increase rent by more than 3%. For example, Washington, D.C.’s rent control board allowed most landlords to raise rents in recent years at annual rates such as 8.9% and 6.2%. But…
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Hernandez Proposes Florida-Here-We-Come Bill
by Hans Bader Delegate Phil Hernandez, D-Norfolk, has introduced legislation to raise state income taxes on people making over $1 million per year. Their marginal tax rate would rise from 5.75% to 10%, under HB 2333. This tax increase won’t become law this year, but it might become law under a future Democratic governor. Virginia…