The Half Sheet

Wealthy individuals can profit from certain “charitable donations” in Virginia. That’s the surprising result of Virginia’s Neighborhood Assistance Program and Education Improvement Scholarship tax credits, both of which allow “double-dipping” – a 65 percent tax credit on top of federal and state deductions for charitable giving. When that 65 percent credit is combined with the federal and state deductions, many wealthy individuals who are subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax or who donate appreciated securities are able to save more money in avoided taxes than they actually donated to the charitable cause. 

Last Thursday, the Virginia Board of Education unanimously approved a set of recommendations that would significantly improve support for Virginia schools. The vote sends a clear message to the General Assembly that it’s time for the state to fix the school funding formula.

The future of Virginia’s children, communities, and commonwealth depends heavily on the quality of K-12 schools, yet Virginia continues to rank among the states that have made the deepest cuts in its support for its schools and students. Virginia should take a better approach – one informed by solid research in the field – and invest the resources needed to be a place where every child, no matter where they live, has a chance to get a top-quality education.

After several years of decline, Virginia (and the United States as a whole) are finally starting to see an uptick in the share of working-age adults covered through employer-sponsored insurance. This encouraging trend may be explained in part by the implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate. Under the mandate, more firms in 2015 were required to offer insurance to their employees or pay a fine. From 2014 to 2015, 37,000 Virginians gained coverage through increased use of employer-sponsored insurance.

Today the Virginia Board of Education will discuss a series of proposals for final consideration next month that would send a clear message to Virginia lawmakers that it’s time to fix how the state supports schools here in Virginia.

Most Virginians are doing better than they were a few years ago, according to data released today by the Census Bureau. The median household income rose 2 percent in 2015 to $66,262, after adjusting for inflation. And 44,000 fewer Virginians have incomes that are below the poverty line, which is less than $24,257 for a family of four. The improvement in incomes was slightly slower than those of the United States as a whole, which saw a 4 percent increase in median household incomes and, like Virginia, a 5 percent decline in the poverty rate. Virginia remains the 9th highest income state in the country.

Today’s Census data on the number of Virginians who remain without any health insurance are a stark reminder of the costs of failing to close the coverage gap. Closing this gap would be good for all of us.

Virginia lawmakers have the opportunity to help economically challenged, uninsured moms and their children get the care they need to be healthy and productive. The well-being of all women and children is too important to ignore.

Virginia is facing yet another round of potential cuts to vital protections for families and key investments in the future…

African-American Virginians and immigrant Virginians face different types of law enforcement contact, but both groups are too often being “policed” rather than “protected,” and members of both communities often face far harsher punishments for the same crimes than U.S. born white Virginians.

Many immigrants and African-American Virginians have significant family caretaking responsibilities, but are less likely than others to have access to key options that would allow them to better balance work and family responsibilities.

Virginia residents may face another round of cuts to vital services because state revenues are coming in lower than expected. And, once again, a common sense solution to saving the state money and boosting Virginia’s economy is staring right at lawmakers: closing the health care coverage gap. Closing the gap could inject roughly $2 billion in federal money per year into Virginia, help as many as 400,000 low-paid Virginians get the medical care they need to be healthy and productive, and protect vital services from cuts by saving the state hundreds of millions of dollars.