Stacked Local Taxes Are Making Virginia Less Affordable, Not More
Virginia’s restaurant and lodging sector is still in a fragile post-COVID recovery, yet local governments across the Commonwealth are piling on new and higher taxes that make affordability worse for families and survival harder for small businesses. A new statewide analysis of meals, lodging, and related sales taxes across all 133 Virginia localities by the Virginia […]
Virginia’s “Runaway” Budget Negotiators
Fear of commitment is a common theme in Hollywood — where romantic comedies are replete with characters that sidestep long-term commitment primarily out of fear that someone better may come along. Think of Runaway Bride, where Maggie, played by Julia Roberts, keeps running away from her betrothed at the altar out of such fear. The budget […]
A Win-Win for Virginia
Candidates love to be on the side of the gods – and supporting reduced pollution and greater economic growth is a “win-win.” After all, if Virginia can use new technologies to reduce not only greenhouse gases but also what we send to landfills … while simultaneously creating new, well-paying jobs, who could oppose it? Technological advances like […]
Northam Compromise Still Taxes Most PPP Money That Saved Jobs
A week ago, Governor Ralph Northam’s Administration was adamant that it would be unfair, in fact a double tax benefit, to allow Virginia employers with forgiven Paycheck Protection Plan loans to also deduct any expenses used to qualify for forgiveness. This week, the position changed. Maybe it would make sense to allow it for some employers. Perhaps […]
That $900 Billion Stimulus Package includes Pork – lots of it!
Congress has passed, and the President has signed, the $900 billion stimulus package. There’s a lot of pork in the bill, and it includes USDA. What is your tax dollar going to support? About $10 million will be made available for gender programs in Pakistan. There will also be a study of the Springfield, Ill., […]
TCI Raises Annual Household Costs $737
Virginia family finances and the state economy as a whole will suffer if Virginia joins the Transportation and Climate Initiative, an economic consulting firm concludes in new data released by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. Families will pay $737 more per year, while the state will lose more than 12,000 private sector jobs.
The Jefferson Journal: Economic Recovery Made Harder
Now that the General Assembly’s “Cops and COVID” special session is all but finished, will it be easier or harder for the state’s struggling economy to recover in 2021? It will be harder, probably.
Jefferson Journal: Taxaginia Reappears as Special Session Looms
The General Assembly reconvenes on August 18 for a special summer session, and the left has already begun the call to raise taxes. But Steve Haner points out that raising taxes in a recession is one of the worst things the General Assembly can do.
The Jefferson Journal: No Escape From New Rules
The first thing every employer in Virginia needs to understand about the state’s new COVID-19 temporary workplace standard (here) is it is universal. It applies to every workplace, public and private, for-profit and non-profit, with 10,000 workers or two, The rules are the same, “one size fits all,” without regard to the nature of the […]
Johan Norberg’s Sweden’s Lessons for America!
When asked if he can mention a single example of a country where socialism has worked, Bernie Sanders always says “we should look to countries like Sweden.” Sooner or later, American socialists always return to Sweden. There’s a good reason for that: The countries socialists originally tout always end up with bread lines and labor […]