The Half Sheet

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.

Today, from a national stand-point, Virginia is recognized as having a mental health system with results well below the national average.

The immigration system in the United States is broken, and too many Virginians are caught up in it because of minor problems with their immigration status and minor criminal charges. Virginia should not add to this by requiring local and regional jails to treat detainer requests as mandatory without a court order. And the state should not force sheriffs and regional jail officials to choose between a confusing state law and the constitutional rights of individuals, not to mention the possible costs to their local taxpayers.

As lawmakers review the governor’s amendments to the 2016-2018 budget, they should not gloss over these significant cuts to public K-12 education. With these cuts, the state’s support for Virginia’s students and future workforce is down 11.8 percent per pupil since 2009 adjusting for inflation. K-12 has borne its fair share in the state’s austerity efforts now and during the recession.

Some immigrants who are lawfully present can’t legally drive due to their particular type of federal immigration status. The stakeholder task force recommended expanding access to driver’s licenses to these individuals and all legally present individuals. This important recommendation could be put into effect if legislators pass HB2020 (Del. Villanueva) or HB1866 (Del. Lopez), both of which use the draft bill language that was developed by the stakeholder’s task force.

Lawmakers should take are hard look at the proposal for a voucher-like savings account in Virginia, because the research shows that the details matter when it comes to promoting effective school choice options.