Author Archives: Steve Haner

Voters Will Decide Virginia’s Future Direction

Posted on October 25, 2023 | 58 comments

by Derrick Max

In two weeks, the people of Virginia will decide on two competing visions for the future of Virginia. Will they elect a General Assembly favoring Governor Glenn Youngkin’s more freedom-oriented policy vision, or will they elect a General Assembly returning the Commonwealth to the statist policy vision of former governors Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam?

While much of the current debate in the Commonwealth has focused almost solely on abortion, the number of issues “on the ballot” in this election is much broader and ought to be more closely considered by voters. If readers want a deeper dive into these issues, links to the Thomas Jefferson Institute’s work in these areas are included.

Surpluses are on the ballot in Virginia.

Earlier this year, faced with an historic $5.1 billion surplus, Governor Youngkin and Democrats in the Virginia Senate reached a deal to cut $1.05 billion in taxes and allocate $3.7 billion in new, one-time spending. This $3 in new spending for every $1 in tax cuts is backward.

Budget officials in Virginia just reported that in the first quarter of this fiscal year, surpluses are continuing to be amassed in Richmond. Coupled with the official projections for spending and revenue for the next few years, the next General Assembly will almost certainly be faced with large cash surpluses. Continue reading →

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Posted in Education (K-12), Elections, Energy, Government Finance, Taxes

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How Pass Through Tax Rules Raid the U.S. Treasury

Posted on October 24, 2023 | 23 comments

American Institute of CPA’s map of states with a pass through entity tax rule as of this past July.  Many of those that haven’t have no state income tax anyway.  Click for larger view.

By Steve Haner

When the General Assembly was briefed on the state’s financial status last week, the $412 million in unexpected revenue growth was dismissed as potentially misleading because of some new quirk in Virginia tax law called the Pass Through Entity Tax or PTET.  PTET keeps coming up in these discussions.

Approval of the Pass Through Entity Tax in 2022, with some tweaks to the rules in 2023, has indeed scrambled the state’s financial forecasting. Virginia is one of 36 states now offering this tax strategy.  The Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee got a briefing on it October 17.  Before the boring nuts and bolts, here are the headlines.

First, PTET is popularly seen as a way to undermine the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s limitation on the deductibility of state and local taxes (SALT).  If you seek itemized deductions on a federal tax return, the limit for state and local taxes paid is $10,000.  Now that Virginia and so many other states have adopted PTET, the big loser is the federal government.  PTET adds to the federal deficit. Continue reading →

23 Comments

Posted in Business and Economy, General Assembly, Government Finance, Taxes

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Youngkin Team Cautious Despite Revenue Surge

Posted on October 18, 2023 | 9 comments

Finance Secretary Cummings showed this chart to legislators this week and noted the deceleration in job growth, citing that as another reason he and Governor Glenn Youngkin remain cautious despite strong revenues. Click for larger view.

by Steve Haner

First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. 

Virginia’s state budget grew 90% in the past decade, far faster than in previous decades. After adjusting for inflation and population changes, spending still jumped 4% each year, a high rate of compound real growth.  At the same time, the state continues to see explosive growth in its revenue, pointing to cash surpluses continuing for some time.

These facts emerged from two presentations to the Virginia General Assembly this week.  The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) issued its annual report on state spending growth on Monday.  That same day, Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings reported on the revenue results from July through September, the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2024.

In just those three months, revenue exceeded the revenue estimates by more than $412 million.  Other months, with larger pots of projected revenue, are still ahead.  Should this revenue trend hold, surpluses similar to the historic surpluses of Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023 could result next June.

During the elections two years ago, Virginia’s flush financial condition was inspiring debates about tax reductions and tax reform.  Some, but not all, of the proposals went on to pass.  But with General Assembly elections just over two weeks away, few candidates in either party are promising more tax reform or reduction efforts in the next session. Continue reading →

9 Comments

Posted in General Assembly, Government Finance, Taxes

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NY Ratepayers Better Protected Than Virginia’s

Posted on October 16, 2023 | 8 comments

Illustration of planned Equinor offshore wind installation off the coast of New York State. Equinor was one of the developers asking for a price increase, which was rejected.

By Steve Haner

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) last week told several offshore wind developers it would not approve changes in their state contracts, putting several planned ocean turbine projects into jeopardy.  The story is important for its contrast to how Virginia faces the same future. Continue reading →

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Posted in Consumer Protection, Energy, Environment, Regulations and Government Oversight, Utilities

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Local Government Unions Raise Your Taxes

Posted on October 16, 2023 | 40 comments

By Chris Braunlich

Subscribers to Netflix will soon see rate increases because of the Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA Hollywood strikes.  Buyers of new and used cars will, as a result of the United Auto Workers strike, see prices go up as supply dwindles and costs rise.

The current spate of labor actions – involving more than 420,000 employees – is a response to higher inflation.  However, it will also drive prices even higher, both through lost productivity and higher costs to pay for higher wages. Continue reading →

40 Comments

Posted in Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Unions

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Why are the Poor Still Paying for Dominion Wind?

Posted on October 14, 2023 | 52 comments

by Steve Haner

Virginia’s new electricity bill subsidy program for customers of Dominion Energy Virginia has cleared its final hurdle at the State Corporation Commission and will begin enrolling participants in time for this coming winter. It is largely following the schedule previously outlined.

In a final order issued October 13, the Commission set the rate adjustment clause amount that will be added to Dominion customer bills at 73 cents per 1,000 kilowatt hours. For most residential customers it will add between 50 cents and a dollar per month to their bills. Continue reading →

52 Comments

Posted in Energy, General Assembly, Social Services and Entitlements, Utilities

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Miyares Seeks Dismissal of Suit to Save RGGI

Posted on September 28, 2023 | 70 comments

The states currently in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative tax compact.

By Steve Haner

Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) is defending the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board’s decision to exit a multi-state carbon cap and tax compact as within the regulatory agency’s authority. He has also claimed to the circuit court hearing an appeal of that decision that the plaintiffs were not affected by the action directly and thus have no standing to sue.

The four plaintiffs, all associations, filed a 138-page petition in the Circuit Court of Fairfax County in late August. Miyares’ office used just ten pages total for two responses dated September 13. Continue reading →

70 Comments

Posted in Energy, Environment, Regulations and Government Oversight, Taxes

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Principles for Virginia’s Energy Future

Posted on September 28, 2023 | 58 comments

NOAA data for Virginia, 1900-2020, showing no rising pattern in the number of days with an average high above 95 degrees F.

By Steve Haner

First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.

Energy is our economy. Energy is the basis of wealth and a comfortable life. As Virginia chooses a new set of legislators to wrestle with the old and new energy issues facing the Commonwealth, here is a review of some of the key points the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy has been stressing and writing about over recent years.

Candidates in either party would do well to adopt them. Continue reading →

58 Comments

Posted in Elections, Energy, Environment, Regulations and Government Oversight, Utilities

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Virginia Conservatives Need Political Infrastructure

Posted on September 26, 2023 | 49 comments

By Chris Braunlich

Governor Glenn Youngkin can take satisfaction from passage of the long-delayed Virginia budget.

As my colleague Steve Haner points out, during his term of office Youngkin’s fight to increase the standard deduction will save the average Virginia couple up to $1,265 over three years, provide $900 in tax rebates, and eliminate the state share of the grocery tax (another $115 million in savings last year). Continue reading →

49 Comments

Posted in Money in politics, Politics

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No Republican Says “Pregnant Persons”, WaPo

Posted on September 24, 2023 | 53 comments

By Steve Haner

There is no way House Republican spokesman Garren Shipley used the term “pregnant person” in discussing the ongoing campaign debate over the abortion issue with a Washington Post reporter. The reporter or an editor intentionally broke up his quote to insert the now politically correct term in a recent story.

Here is the paragraph, with a highlight to show the direct and indirect portions of the quote:

“Voters have a very distinct choice,” said Garren Shipley, spokesman for the House Republican Caucus, which paid for what he called a “six-figure” ad campaign. “Republicans have been absolutely clear from the get-go” that they favor a 15-week limit with exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the pregnant person, he said. “But Democrats can’t give you a straight answer about what they want to do.”

Shipley would have referred to the life of the mother or the life of the woman. But, no, The Washington Post could not even use those terms in a direct quote in today’s environment. In woke Post land, people who are not women, who are not born with wombs, can carry unborn children.

The story focused on a new GOP-sponsored 30-second broadcast ad also tied to a website, and having the Post cover the development at all was a boost to Shipley’s team. The story concedes Democrats are less clear about their intentions. That one issue is already dominating the airwaves, with both sides accusing the other of blatantly lying about their plans if given control of the legislature. Continue reading →

53 Comments

Posted in Abortion, Feminism, Women's Rights, Culture wars, Elections

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In New Mexico, Union Troops Have Been Cancelled

Posted on September 22, 2023 | 43 comments

By Steve Haner

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, when the wave of historical monuments destruction hit three years ago, it was a memorial to Civil War Union soldiers that was toppled by a mob.

There were Union soldiers out in what was then a sparsely populated territory? Yes, the Civil War reached that far. Santa Fe was briefly occupied by Confederate troops from Texas in 1862, for about a month. A couple of battles (skirmishes by eastern standards) were fought on its territory, the final one just 25 miles from town at Glorietta Pass. Continue reading →

43 Comments

Posted in Culture wars

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Did Assembly Trim Dominion Bills $7-$14? No.

Posted on September 11, 2023 | 12 comments

The SCC’s breakdown of Dominion’s energy price for a home using 1,000 kwh.  Click for clear view.

by Steve Haner

When the Virginia General Assembly passed a complicated electricity regulation change a few months ago, the Richmond Times-Dispatch parroted as fact this Dominion Energy Virginia claim in a front-page paragraph:

The compromise on electric bills — in legislation that passed nearly unanimously — would bring an immediate $6 to $7 cut in a benchmark 1,000 kilowatt-hour monthly bill, which now stands at $137.

Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in Business and Economy, Energy, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight, Utilities

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Youngkin’s Partial Tax Wins are Still Impressive

Posted on September 7, 2023 | 22 comments

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R)

By Steve Haner

First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.

Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) and the legislators of both parties who have given him at least some of the tax reforms he asked for need to stop being shy and take a real victory lap.  He has been in office less than two years and has diverted $5 billion from tax coffers back to Virginia’s citizens so far, with more to come in 2024 and beyond.

Most of that was approved by the 2022 General Assembly and is now in effect for a second full tax year, but the 2023 General Assembly just sweetened the pot.  The long-delayed budget compromise approved September 6 added more than $1 billion in single-shot refunds and long-term tax cuts. Continue reading →

22 Comments

Posted in Business and Economy, General Assembly, Government Finance, Taxes

It Was Bound to Happen Sometime

Posted on September 7, 2023 | 36 comments

Click on the images for the full views.  Correlation is still not causation, but the standard industry, utility and Biden Administration line “there is no evidence” is getting thin.  Virginia Beach, here it comes.

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Posted in Environment

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Legislature Moves To Fill Power Vacuum It Created

Posted on September 5, 2023 | 20 comments

State Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, new Chairman of the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation (Image: Virginia Star)

By Steve Haner

State Senator Scott Surovell, D-Mount Vernon, showed today that he had something which the State Corporation Commission now lacks – a quorum.  Surovell and the other legislators will gather in Richmond tomorrow to address the state budget but are expected once again to fail to fill the two vacancies on that vital regulatory body.

Surovell, however, was chosen this afternoon to chair the newly reconstituted Commission on Electric Utility Regulation (CEUR), a legislative oversight panel that has not met since December 2017 despite several tumultuous years of change in Virginia’s energy sector. The meeting lasted just a few minutes beyond one hour and never discussed the huge problem the legislators have created by refusing to elect new SCC regulators. Continue reading →

20 Comments

Posted in Energy, General Assembly, Regulations and Government Oversight, Utilities

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