The Half Sheet

Reduced state support for public education has negatively impacted Virginia classrooms, from the bustling shorelines of Hampton Roads to the green mountaintops of the Appalachians.

As part of our work to inform ongoing debates in Virginia around fiscal policy issues, we took a look at some recent tax proposals at the center of current debates – from candidates for Governor and from the most recent General Assembly session. 

While free clinics do an outstanding job providing vital services to 75,000 low-income uninsured adults each year in Virginia, Medicaid expansion could provide continual coverage to hundreds of thousands of low-income Virginians

Every student in Virginia deserves a fair shot at success in the classroom and after they graduate. Limited staffing and deteriorating facilities is no way to prepare students and Virginia’s future workforce with the skills and competencies they need to thrive in the 21st century.

Despite paying taxes, unauthorized immigrants are not offered many of the social services that their taxes pay for. Essential safety net services such as Medicaid or the Earned Income Tax Credit, are not offered to unauthorized immigrants in any form, with very few exceptions. Furthermore, unauthorized immigrants in Virginia also pay a higher share of their incomes in state and local taxes than the wealthiest 1 percent of Virginians.

As tax day approaches, we celebrate the successes of the EITC in helping hard-working Virginians make ends meet. We should also support efforts to make it even more effective in helping workers and creating a fairer tax system.

Not expanding Medicaid is shutting the door on the most expansive and effective way to substantially address and begin curbing this epidemic.

Lawmakers in Congress have a choice to make: will they move forward with a new scheme that gives generous tax breaks to the wealthy, or will they abandon that ill-conceived plan and get to work making it easier for average people to get health care.

Virginia’s tax system is upside down. Regular Virginians pay a higher share of their income in state and local taxes than the wealthy and powerful. An array of recently proposed schemes to give new handouts to the wealthy and powerful would make it even more unfair. Virginians can’t afford that. As part of our work to educate and inform the conversations and debates in Virginia around sound fiscal policy issues, we took a look at some of these ideas to see how they would impact Virginians at different income levels and the state budget when it comes to having the resources needed to invest in core public services.

Given the flaws with the bill in Virginia and the mounting evidence that vouchers are not effective as advertised, Virginia might be better suited investing its resources elsewhere, like its public schools.

With the recent release of the House Congressional plan to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it’s important to take a look at what the ACA has achieved in Virginia over the past few years and what is at stake from repealing it. Minority staff on the Committee on Energy and Commerce have put out a new report looking at the impact of the ACA in each Congressional District. Like in the rest of the country, the ACA has significantly reduced the uninsured rate in each of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts. 

Now, it’s time for lawmakers to get serious about finding the revenue to adequately support Virginia’s public schools.