How many shake their heads every time they listen to the news? If you are like me, you wonder what in the world is going on in our society today. It seems everything has become so politically partisan. When it comes to opinions Republicans are phobic and racist, Democrats are...
Wealth taxes are all the rage now in national discussions, with Democrats usually getting battered for proposing one. But as final versions of the income tax bill moved around the 2019 General Assembly, Democrats slipped in a provision to cap the amount of deductions wealthiest taxpayers can claim, raising their...
(Editor’s Note: As Virginia increasingly turns to toll lanes to improve major transportation arteries, pushback has come from both the political right and left. Virginia is not alone in this, and here Mr. Feigenbaum reviews those critiques … and answers them.) The rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders shows...
Networks of variably priced express toll lanes (ETLs) are being developed in more than a dozen large metro areas, and their impact is starting to be reflected in the congestion figures for those regions. Before reviewing what is going on, I want to call your attention to a new (not...
In Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s semiannual monetary report to Congress last month, he said he was encouraged by the “solid” increase in the labor force participation rate over the past year. This rate represents the percentage of Americans 16 and older who are working or looking for work. Individuals...
If the East Coast’s largest solar generation facility is rejected by the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors, one of the reasons will be the major tax advantages sought by that industry and granted by the General Assembly. The supervisors held a nine-hour public hearing in late February without taking a vote....
Northern Virginia progressives opposed to subsidies for Amazon are grievance-mongering nihilists who have nothing to offer but spittle and bile. Far from helping the people they purport to speak for, if they were successful in scuttling the Amazon deal — the Arlington County Board still must vote on county subsidies...
The 2019 General Assembly session served as a stark reminder of an important lesson: Leadership matters. The controversies surrounding the executive branch brought chaos and embarrassment, while the steady leadership of the Republican-led General Assembly delivered meaningful results. This session was marked by the scandals embroiling our governor, lieutenant governor,...
(Editor’s Note: In recent years Virginia teachers, parents and students have recited a mantra of “too many tests,” demanding their reduction or outright elimination. As a result, the Virginia General Assembly and Virginia State Board of Education have begun eliminating many standardized examinations. But that elimination can have severe consequences,...
Jefferson Journal: The State of Taxaginia: Taxes Times Four
The Virginia General Assembly partially reversed one tax hike that was coming towards Virginia taxpayers. But three other tax increases are all on track, and they will likely cost citizens and businesses $1 billion per year.
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