Budget & Revenue

The budget deal struck by state lawmakers on May 30, 2018 was rightly celebrated for extending health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of Virginians, investing in mental health services and K-12 education, and boosting reserves that had been depleted during the recession.

On June 21, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the door for states to require out-of-state online retailers and other remote sellers to collect state and local sales taxes. For Virginia, the decision could mean additional state revenue of $250 to $300 million each year, according to estimates from Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne. The court’s ruling overturns a pair of previous rulings that were decided before the rapid growth of e-commerce and the decision has been praised by state lawmakers and small business owners. 

On May 30, the General Assembly finally reached agreement on a new budget to fund Virginia’s public services over the next two years. Significantly, the budget expands the Medicaid program to provide health care coverage for hundreds of thousands more Virginians while also making key investments in areas like early childhood education and K-12 education. 

Virginia lawmakers will face a decision at some point over how to respond to last year’s federal tax legislation and how federal changes will impact state income tax revenues. First, some context: As a share of the economy, state revenues are still not back to pre-recession levels which has led to large unmet needs in crucial areas like K-12 education, health care, and infrastructure. Deciding whether to conform to – or decouple from – federal legislation could mean the difference between hundreds of millions more in state revenues to invest in these key priorities or not. Legislators should not let this critical opportunity pass by. They should conform to the new tax law.

Special Session: Comparing the governor’s, House, and General Assembly budgets to the FY 2018 budget With no agreement on the...

Tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on a dispute between South Dakota and the online retailer Wayfair over whether Wayfair is responsible for collecting sales tax for purchases and sending it to the state. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of South Dakota, policymakers in Virginia and other states should take notice and act to make sure big multi-state online retailers are collecting and remitting sales tax for residents of their states. 

This past Sunday the House and Senate money committees put forward their proposals for the state’s next two-year budget – amending what former Governor McAuliffe proposed this past December. And what a stark contrast they offer: House Appropriations invests hundreds of millions of dollars to improve vital public services with funds from accepting federal funds to expand health care coverage to thousands of Virginians, while the Senate Finance Committee proposes deep cuts to the introduced budget. 

The state’s next two year budget is now before state legislators. On Sunday, they will reveal their amendments to the budget introduced by former Governor Terry McAuliffe in December. The proposal before them makes important progress in a number of key areas of support for Virginians. What happens next will influence whether more Virginians have access to affordable health care, whether Virginia’s schools have more adequate and equitable state funding, and whether the state will have enough revenue to invest in families and communities. 

There’s so much good TV these days that some have said we’re in a new Golden Age of TV. That’s up for debate, but one fact is undeniable: more and more of our state tax dollars are subsidizing TV productions despite little evidence of lasting economic gains.